
YEAR-BOOK OF 

AUSTRIA 

1920 

FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES 
SECOND SERIES 




1921 

PUBLISHED BY THE RITZ ART & IMPORT COMPANY 

^EW YORK 






V 



YEARBOOK OF 

AUSTRIA 

1920 

FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES 
SECOND SERIES 




I 



1921 
P„.USH»:.V TH. .nj .«T . .HPO.T ..HP«V 



All rights reserved 

Copyright 1921 by Ritz Art & Import Company 

New York 

_r/3/ 



y^ 



TERMINATED DECEMBER 31, 1920. 

THE FIRST SERIES OF THIS YEAR- 
BOOK (1919) APPEARED UNDER THE 
TITLE OF "ONE YEAR OF FREEDOM". 



BT EXCHANOS 
8TA»irOBD DNJVBKSITT 
HOOVBB WAH UBRaRY 

iWy3 



Printed by ig. Unger, Vienna IV. 



IV 



AFTER THE TREATY OF ST. GERMAIN. 

V The treaty of peace of St. Germain was signed September 10, 
y approved by the National Assembly October 17, ratified by the 
President October 25 and came into force July 6, 1920. The 
peace had created a small helpless state, dispossessed of its most 
important industrial territories, unable to satisfy even its most 
urgents wants of life, almost without coal-fields, without raw 
materials, but with the Metropolis of a vast Empire and with an 
unnumerable host of functionaries and civil-servants, economically 
dependent from ill-disposed neighbours, crammed with public 
debts, inherited from the ancient Monarchy, and, above all, forced 
to assume all the unbearable burdens, imposed by the treaty. 
There were only two hopes: the chance of an efficacious help 
by the Entente for the economic reconstruction, repeatedly and 
solemnly promised, or the permission to enter in the pale of the 
great German Mother- country. 

Those hopes encouraged the two political parties, the Social- 
Democrats and the Christian -Socialists, to ratify the treaty of 
peace in the National- Assembly. This having done, the two 
parties formed a coalition for the purpose to save the country 
from the imminent danger of despair and starvation. 

The first duty proclaimed by all parties in the Parliament 
was to gain the confidence of the world abroad, especially of the 
adversaries of the immediate past, by fulfilling loyally, as far as 
possible, the stipulations of the treaty of peace. The National 
Assembly hastened to carry into execution its essential provisions, 
most of them even before the ratification by the co-signatories. 

Besides the manifold tasks resulting from the treaty of peace, 
as: surrender of the military effects, disbandnient of the Militia 
and establishment of a new army of mercenaries, there was also 
other most urgent and difficult business at hand. The food-supply 



Duties of the National-Assembly. Public credit. 



was to be secured, the trade maintained or newly started, the 
agricultural labour revived, the legislative work for the new wants 
of the democratic Republic initiated and, above all, a constitution 
to be given. One of the most arduous problems was to enter in 
friendly relations with the neighbouring states, .which had formed 
once, with German- Austria, a single economic body, connected 
by thousands of economic links, cruelly broken by the peace. 
Commercial treaties were to be negociated, questions of inter- 
communication to be settled and the mutual prohibition of trade 
to be abolished or at least mitigated. 

But first of all, the government endeavoured to import, on 
credit, sufficient quantities of food and raw materials. In fact, 
owing to the depreciation of the currency, Austria can buy only 
on credit the means necessary for the reconstruction of the anni- 
hilated economic life. If Austria cannot import sufficient quantities 
of coals and raw materials, she cannot produce the manufactured 
goods destined to pay off her debts contracted for the food-supply, 
she cannot restore the financial equilibrium and free herself from 
the charity of the Universe. None of the means, calculated to 
reduce the public debt, was left out of account: heavy charges 
on all kind of property, confiscation of a certain portion of per- 
sonal property, avoidance of all unproductive expenditure &c. 
But the most incisive financial measures will prove ineffectual 
as long as Austria cannot import mineral coal and raw-material 
for her industrial enterprises, nor artificial manure and concen- 
trated forage for her agriculture; whilst Austria cannot freely 
export to her neighbours, she cannot recover herself. The economic 
machine of Austria, stopped by the sentence of St. Germain, can 
only be restored to motion by the Entente. The Austrian crown- 
currency, fallen to a fiftieth, even to a hundredth of its original 
value, has ceased to be a mean of financial transactions in foreign 
countries. The rate of exchange will not rise far above zero, as 
long as the furnaces are shut down and the industrial works 
out of working order. The worthlessness of the currency in a 
country without proper resources leads to fantastically high prices; 
the public expenditure rises far beyond all bounds; the minister 
of finance is obliged to keep in uninterrupted motion the bank- 
notes-press. The results are: a further depreciation of the currency, 
a new rising of all prices, fresh requests for higher salaries of 



Rate of exchange. 



public and private employees, increase of the deficit, more work 
done by the banknotes -press; so the vicious circle is closed. 
Austria can be saved only by abundant credits at long delays, 
rendering her independent in her imports from the ever-changing 
rate of exchange by the establishment of a fixed rate of exchange 
between Austria and the gold -standard countries, as well as by 
the removal of all hindrances from the free development of her 
economic life. 

THE FINANCIAL POSITION. 

Austria is not viable under the present conditions! This is 
a truth proved daily by the rate of exchange of the Austrian 
krone. Bills from Vienna were sold, December 9, 1919, in Zurich 
at 2.75 cent, the exchange raised a little in the following months, 
but had fallen afresh, January 27, to l.eo cent. During another 
crisis, April 1920, the exchange in Zurich was I.45. The maximum level 
was attained May 29 with 4.2,; since this date, the exchange 
retrograded, with a variable speed, but without interruption. 
December 20, 1920, bills from Vienna were quoted at Zurich 
1.30, the Viennese bank-note O.90, But the spectacle of the Central 
exchange office in Vienna is far more pitiable, if the rates of 
ultimo 1919 and ultimo 1920 are compared. Bills from Amsterdam, 
London and Zurich have risen 350 "/o, the dollar 400 »/o, the Czecho- 
slovak crown 250% and the mark more than 300 "/o. 

The fiduciary currency was, December 31, 1919: 12 milliards, 
December 31, 1920: 30.64 milliards kronen. The rapid multiplication 
of paper currency depreciates the value of the krone at home 
and abroad. The depreciated paper money influences directly the 
public expenditure, but muddles also in a disastrous manner the 
private household economy. Although the monetary crisis seems 
to have the effect of a stimulus to exportation, this purely 
imaginary advantage is largely overbalanced by the difficulties 
in maintaining in working order the national industry, paralysed 
by the enormously enhanced prices of raw materials from abroad. 
Only foreign financial help could set the Austrian industry on 
its feet, but on conditions not leaving any margin to the Austrian 
employer. What alone dissipates all delusions about a renewal 
of Austrian industry, are the growing difficulties in the daily life 
of the workers, forcing them to claim for ever increasing wages 



Inflation. Rapid growth of deficit. 



and making unavailable all attempts at correct calculation by 
the employer. 

The budget for 1920/21 expects a deficit of I2V2 milliards 
of kronen. By incisive measures in all branches of public receipt 
(imports, taxes, railway, post, telegraph and telephone tariffs), 
these receipts augmented from 6.3 to 20.? milliards of kronen, equal to 
228"/o, in the previous year. But these receipts were over-balanced by 
public expenditure, amounting till June 1920, to 33.194 milliards, 
against I6.873 milliards in 1919/20. In Dezember, these figures 
were widely overstepped; the further monetary depreciation only 
had effected a loss of 12 milliards, not 3.9 milliards as provided 
in the budget; the total deficit was about 25 milliards kronen. 

Besides the losses on the exchange, the expenditure for 
rationed food supply at low prices and the augmented salaries 
and pensions are the most important items on the expenditure side. 
The credits of a total amount of 9 milliards, which the Government 
was in command of for the period between July 1*' and December 31, 
1920, were entirely exhausted in November, mostly in the form 
of treasury-bills at 2V2"/o- In the beginning of November, the 
Government asked new credits for 3.6 milliards of kronen, for 
the financial requirements till the end of the year. 

Since the exhaustion of the loan of 48 million of dollars, 
accorded by an American syndicate, Austria is obliged to buy 
by her proper means the necessary food-supplies. In this manner, 
the Austrian State suffers enormous losses by the exchange. 
For the production of the daily bread (rye-flour mixed with 30»/o 
of maize), Austria borrowed till the end of 1920: 128,940.000 florins 
(Neth. Curr.); according to the exchange of ultimo November 1920, 
this figure corresponds to 2O.44 milliards kronen! 'Whilst the 
price of the rationed loaf was, since 1914, raised from 33 to 
600 heller, the State suffers, from this only item, an annual net 
loss of 18 milliards! — 

Only vegetal fats are managed by the State, and produced 
from raw materials purchased in foreign countries. The commerce 
of animal fats has been abandoned to private enterprise, resulting 
in a formidable rising of prices. At the rate of 678 tons of 
rationed meat per week, distributed by the Public food-supply 
to particulars, the State sustains an annual loss of three 
milliards. 



Heavy losses in Public food-supply. 



The Public food-supply purchases monthly I.44 millions tins 
of preserved milk; the purchase money amounted to 100 millions 
kronen per month, the selling price to 30 millions; thus an 
annual loss of 840 millions kronen. 

The total expenditure neccesary for the purchase of foreign 
provisions in the next year (1921) is calculated by the Government 
at 85 millions of dollar. At the actual quotation of the dollar, 
the people of Austria could never, by the selling of the entire 
product of their annual labour, cover the expenses of the bare 
food-supply. 

The losses sustained by the distribution of rationed food- 
stuff at low prices are certainly enorm"ous, but they are quite 
unavoidable. But if this measures were withdrawn and the 
rationed provisions sold at cost-prices, the prices of all food- 
stuffs and all other necessities of life would rise to the same 
level, viz. the price calculated in foreign value and converted 
into kronen. Very soon, all articles and all services would rise to 
the parity of international commerce. The State would be obliged 
to buy all inland commodities at enhanced prices and grant 
its own servants adequate salaries. But it is just the moderate 
salaries and wages which enables Austria to export industrial 
products; these moderate wages are due only to the low prices 
of the rationed victuals. In the moment the wages should rise 
to international level, the Austrian industry would work under 
the highest cost prices, the transport costs for import and export 
being several times higher for Austria than for any other competing 
country. An industrial crisis and social upheaval, followed perhaps 
by bloody struggles, would be the immediate effect. 

The progressive depreciation of the currency raises automatically 
all prices, even those of national production, for the national 
labour is dependent in all relations from the foreign countries. 
The same relation of cause and effect is observable in the 
expenditure for the public welfare, evaluated in the last budget 
at 15 milliards kronen. 

It is very difficult to establish the present state of Austria's 
indebtedness. The total Public Debt of ancient Austria was cal- 
culated, June 30, 1920, at an amount of 108 milliards, including 
the losses sustained from the exchange. The share of German 
Austria in this figure is yet unsettled. Provisionally and subject 



8 Public Debt. Plethora of public servants. 

to an ultimate settlement, the Budget Commission had evaluated 
this share at 48 milliards kronen. The public debt of German 
Austria was, June 30, 1920, 14,900,000.000 kronen, therefore, the 
total indebtedness 60 milliards, necessiting an annual interest 
amount of 5 milliards of kronen. Calculated per head of the 
population, every citizen of German Austria was indebted, at the 
above mentioned date, with 10.000 kronen, and even considerably 
more so to-day. 

The salaries and pensions are evaluated in the budget at 
8.9 milliards, but have attained, at the end of 1920, nearly 12 
milliards, equivalent to the moiety of the total annual public 
receipts. New Austria suffers from an alarming plethora of public 
servants, owing to the sudden retraction of the frontier-line and 
the flowing back to Vienna of innumerable servants of all 
branches of public administration after the collapse. The reduction 
of this host of public officials will be a matter of serious grief 
for the young Republic. To pension off indiscriminately all these 
victims of a force majeure would be a measure as cruel as 
useless. Out of the total number of 263.141 public officials of 
all description, about 40.000 could be dismissed without any 
inconvenience, saving thus about 440 millions of kronen or 2-2 "/o 
of the annual public deficit, a result out of all proportion with 
the disastrous effect of such a measure. A certain number of 
these officials can be employed advantageously in other public 
services; but a radical reduction must be postponed till the 
moment, when, with the help of the victorious countries, the 
economic life of Austria will be restarted. Then, the ill-employed 
and ill-salaried public servants will run away quite spontaneously 
in search of a more remunerative position in the industry or in 
the commerce. 

COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND COMMUNICATIONS. 

Old Austria-Hungary had, in the last years before the war, 
a passive commercial balance. Since 1908, the monetary value of 
the exported raw and manufactured articles was below the value 
of import-trade; since 1911, ttte bulk of importations outweighed 
those of exported goods. The deficit in weight was 6V2 millions 
of metric quintals against 40 millions in 1913. The treaty of peace 
having ravished from Austria the richest and most flourishing 



Imports and Exports. Transit trade. 



provinces, this disproportion between import and export trade was 
enourmously enhanced. 

During the second semester of 1920, the importations amounted 
to 20.7 millions of metric quintals, or 558.000 parcels, the expor- 
,tations to 5 millions or 347.000 parcels only. Out of that total 
amount of foreign-borne trade, 70 "/o was the share of the northern 
States, Germany and Czecho-Slovakia, 16" o of Italy (including 
the oversea trade via Trieste) and Switzerland, 12''/o of Eastern 
Europe, Hungary and Yougoslavia, and 2''/o of other countries. 
The transit trade had engaged 3.4 millions of metric quintals. 
About two thirds of the whole transit trade was carried in the 
north-southern route, and one third in the west-eastern route. 
Commercial statistics of the second semester 1919 and the first 
semester 1920 show that Germany hojds the first place in import 
trade and the third place in exportations. But regarding the value 
the figures of which are not yet published for 1920, it would 
appear that Germany holds the second place in the import trade. 
The total amount of importations in the above-named twelvemonth 
was 45 millions of metric quintals, whereof 18 millions from 
Germany, 15.i5 from Czecho-Slovakia, 2.2 from Poland, and 2 from 
Italy. Out of the total amount of 9.8 millions exported goods in 
the same period, I.9 millions were the share of Germany, 2.5 of 
Czecho-Slovakia, O.4 of Poland, and 2.8 of Italy. 

FOREIGN COMMERCE OF AUSTRIA 

From January 1st to September 30, 1920. 

(Quantities in metric quintals or in parcels.) 

Import: Export: 

Tnt«i „,.«„ti«P« / in metric quintals (q) . . . .q 35,661,470 8,543.734 
lotal quantities , ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ g^ ^^^^^^ ^g2,559 

Colonial products q 22.874 792 

Spices , 4.880 319 

Southern fruits, agrumes 79.085 150 

Sugar „ 509.071 72 

Tobacco 29.929 1.183 

Grain, malt, legumes, flour and other milled grains, 

rice „ 3,174.739 26.194 

whereof: 

grain , 1,719.743 26.137 

malt „ 92.495 — 

legumes 238.756 11 



10 Foreign trade January to September 1920. 

Import: Export: 

flour q 984.835 25 

other milled grains 79.892 20 

husked rice 59.018 1 

Fruits, vegetables and vegetable products , 1,598.223 99.569 

whereof: • 

fruits , 117.966 35.862 

fresh sugar beet 15.297 37.574 

potatoes „ 812.786 18 

other vegetables , 556.971 2.540 

seeds •„ 32.801 3.135 

hay 43.227 6.257 

Cattle for slaughter and draught St. 11.580 1.757 

Other animals (poultry, fishes) q 7.771 438 

Animal products „ 48.490 8.013 

vifhereof: 

eggs „ 13.513 — 

honey (natural and artificial) „ 13.757 1 

hides and skins , „ 14.198 2.317 

Grease and fat 308.373 12.189 

whereof: 

animal fat „ 192.726 3.343 

vegetable grease „ 115.647 8.846 

Fatty oils 32.943 1.553 

Beverages „ 710.663 119.350 

whereof: 

Beer „ 118.468 43,332 

Wine „ 557.410 70.985 

Articles of food „ 419.226 ' 18.052 

whereof: 

Meat, fresh or preserved, sausages , 119.919 2.436 

cheese 18.754 14 

Salted fishes and others 52.591 — 

Preserved milk 55.4371 

other alimentary preserves „ 101.543' 

Confectionery and sweetmeats 11.411 5.000 

Wood, coal and peat 24,745.029 2,370.812 

whereof: 

Fire-wood „ 1,000.621 14.849 

Timber and lumber , 123.280 2,255.996 

Brown coal and lignite „ 3,635.330 22.190 

Black coal and anthracite „ 18,409.152 103 

Coke „ 1,415.715 74.862 

Raw materials for turners and carvers „ 10.868 2.820 



3.699 



Foreign trade January to September 1920. 1 1 

Import: Export: 

Mineral products q 732.231 2,225.008 

whereof: 

Building and quarry-stones , 85.588 55.369 

Minerals , 31.444 889.015 

Dyeing earths 51.050 23.986 

Natural phosphates „ 92.299 — 

Kaolin „ 101.985 2.078 

Clay , 102.214 9.052 

Broken stones „ 16.217 357.210 

Sand • , 135.636 49.644 

Plaster „ 3.791 165.308 

Magnesite 32 470.737 

Pharmaceutical and perfumery products , 343 52 

Colouring and tanning stuffs , 30.144 31.641 

Gums, resins and turpentines „ 47.763 5.854 

Mineral oils, slate-tar . „ 323.874 3.731 

whereof: 

Petrol, refined 62.609 241 

Benzine, refined „ 63.830 1.352 

Lubricant oils „ 159.057 1.339 

Cotton, cotton yarn and cotton goods „ 121.407 52.939 

whereof: 

Cotton „ 82.173 16.093 

Cotton yarn „ 8.907 15.906 

Cotton goods „ • 29.324 ■ 20.033 

Flax, hemp, jute and other vegetable textile products, 

yarns and textile goods „ 27.312 17.711 

whereof: 

Flax „ 1.097 65 

hemp 15.609 2 

jute „ 3.219 — 

flax-, hemp-, jute- and paper-yarns 930 1.981 

textile goods of those , 6.166 10.720 

Wool, woollen yarns and woollen goods 37.159 14.676 

whereof: 

Wool „ 13.465 8.065 

woollen yarns 1.825 4.074 

woollen goods „ 21.860 2.537 

Silk and silken goods „ 3.759 3.170 

whereof: 

Spun silk 1.816 1.932 

silken goods „ 1.938 609 

o ^ H , *u- ^ •„• » 746 7.952 

Ready-made clothmg and mdhnery ^^ 32^^20 469889 

whereof: 

hats and hat-shapes St. 320.372 459.538 

Clothing, linen and fancy goods q 720 7.536 



12 



Foreign trade January to September 1920. 



Import: 

Brushes, brooms and sieves q 4.295 

Other goods, manufactured of straw, canes, bark and 
other materials not specified in the customs- 
tariff „ 4.371 

Paper and paper goods „ 128.102 

whereof: 

Paper-pulp 39.204 

Cardbord • . „ 22.688 

paper . 40.216 

Paper goods • . „ 18.206 

Rubber, gutta-percha and rubber goods „ 13.807 

Oil-cloth and derivative goods ,, 1.049 

Leather and leather articles 3.846 

whereof: 

Leather • • • ,, 2.600 

Leather articles , 1.246 

Furriery „ 457 

Wooden articles, turners and carvers articles . . „ 34.609 
whereof: 

Furniture 4.455 

Glass and glass-ware „ 110.440 

Stone industry „ 337.927 

whereof: 

Cement , 292.067 

Earthenware Industry „ 187.392 

whereof: 

Bricks and tiles „ 121.870 

Iron and hardware „ 617.880 

whereof: 

Pig-iron „ 171.254 

Ingots and bars „ 111.736 

Iron-plate and wires „ 83.51 1 

hardware „ 251.379 

Other base metals and derivative articles . . . . „ 56.485 
whereof: 

raw metals „ 45.928 

foils, sheets, plates, bars and wires . . . . „ 6.115 

wrought articles „ 4.442 

Machines and apparatus in wood, iron and base 

metals 128.565 

Electric machines and apparatus and electric plants „ 10.091 
whereof: 

Dynamos and electric motors „ 3.820 

Electric lamps „ 1.068 



Export: 
1.100 



752 
514.094 

136.51! 

159.492 

176.410 

40.665 

7.620 

1.061 

15.441 

2.073 
13.368 

702 
143.694 

56.212 

54.630 
132.068 

85.895 
212.459 

190.CI08 
1,270.243 

553.973 
183.968 

96.183 
436.119 

83.397 

62.425 

4.647 

16.325 

153.116 
38.297 

13.131 
5.475 



Foreign ^trade January to September 1920. 13 

Import: Export: 

r q 8.418 72.907 

Vehicles St. 649 4.668 

. It 105 31 
whereof: 

Motor-cars ' ■ • q 2.576 44.353 

Goods-waggons for railways -^ „ 3.506 13.249 

Precious metals, precious and hard stones, derivative 

articles and coins „ 250 1.258 

Instruments , 4.262 11.947 

Watches, watch-cases and mechanisms St. 43.794 Ifi.245 

Salt q 113.016 6.597 

Chemical products and agents „ 492.191 324.135 

whereof: 

Manuring salts , 163.906 - 

Carbide of calcium „ 46.644 4.647 

Roasted phosphates „ 63.911 — 

Roasted magnesite „ 747 52.579 

Supersulphate of natrium „ 12 47.002 

Carbonate of soda „ 8 72.266 

Varnishes, colours, drugs and perfumes „ 15.706 20.920 

Candles, soaps and wax-ware „ 8.694 4.376 

Matches „ 296 56.005 

Objects of art and books . . . . ' „ 21.256 16.244 

Waste-substances „ 331.163 376.431 

whereof: 

Scoria „ 32.620 246.637 

Brans „ 126.723 1 

Out of the productive forces of the old Habsburg Empire, 
German-Austria holds only 23 "A. of the population, 30 "/o of the 
industrial workers and 20"/,, of the heating surface of the steam- 
boilers. But only Va 7n of the annual output of coal is the share 
of German-Austria. Before the war, Austria has imported from 
Germany (Upper-Silesia) 4.3 million tons of coal annualy. The 
output of these collieries has lowered to three-quarters of the 
pre-war amount, but modern Aiistria receives now a quantity far 
inferior to the share the same provinces had received from there 
in pre-war times, evaluated at a half of this share. More than 
leo/o of the total coal-output of Bohemia were consumed by the 
countries now constituting Austria; to day, Austria receives but 
a third of this amount and that in brovvn coal of a very inferior 
quality. This fuel is to be paid at exorbitant rates or in iron-ore 
and iron-waste of which Austria herself is in a niost urgent need. 



14 Lack of coal. Insuffici ency of J jinports. 

■ ' 'p^ 

Under those conditions, Austria i5'%W/rendered to the discretion 
of the coal-producing countries, V.able to submit to all conditions 
and to pay any price. Austr.u must pay the German coal at a 
rate superior by 100 maAs per ton to rates valid in Germany; 
for Czecho-slovak coal, Austria is submitted to an extra consumption- 
tax of 30 "/o, without counting the transport fees, settled arbitrarily 
by the Czecho-slovak Government. 

The cnr.ventions made between the State or particulars and 
Czecho-Slovakia, Poland and Silesia in order to secure the 
necessary fuel, do not cover more than 40 "/o of the required 
amount. But even this small quantity is never delivered regularly 
or is not delivered at all, so that during the first nine months 
of 1920, only 26 "/o of the promised amount was delivered. If 
Austria could import the whole amount of coal necessary for 
household an industrial consumption, she would be liable to pay 
annually, at the exchange-rate of autumn 1920, the gigantic sum 
of 19 milliards of kronen, inferior to the sum evolving from the 
exchange-rate of ultimo 1920. 

The total quantity of coal required for industry, communication 
and household purposes is evaluated at 1,326.950 tons monthly 
or 15,923.400 tons annually. The total quantity effectivly disposed 
of (imports and home-production) amounted to 4,824.123 in 1919, 
and 6,469.000 tons in 1920. January 1919, the percentage was 
27-2 %, in Decembre 1920: 41gVo- The beneficial influence of this 
ameliorated situation is exhibited in the following figures, showing 
the percentage of supplied deficiencies in fuel in different 
industries: 

January 1920 October 1920 

0/ 0/ 

la /o - 

Textile industries 17-4 40 2 

Leather „ 18-3 439 

Wood „ 5-1 499 

Paper „ 325 522 

Mining „ 207 429 

Salt-works 581 675 

Chemical industries 149 433 

Glass and pottery industries .... 255 48' 1 

Building industries 121 27-1 

Monopoly of Tobacco 267 262 

Alimentary industries 31 9 334 

Metallurgical „ 397 48-3 



Industrial stagnation caused by wout of coal. 15 

These satisfactory results have been obtained by using the 
most strenuous efforts to enhance the importations and to develop 
the home production of coal. 

The output of the Austrian collieries has augmented since 
1919 by a fifth (from 2 to 2V2 millions of tons), thanks to the 
indefatigable excertions of the owners and the good-will of the 
miners, having sacrificed even their Sunday rest, notwithstanding 
the serious difficulties arising from the inadequate and insufficient 
food -supply. This comparatively important rise in the annual 
output proves that the Austrian collieries could double their 
production in a short lapse of time by a sustained cooperation of 
all interested parties. It is true, Austria will always be dependent 
from foreign imports of coal and will never be capable of satisfying 
the demands, especially in gas-coal, the collieries in the Austrian 
area yielding almost exclusively brown-coal or lignite of a very 
inferior description, only a twentieth producing first class black coal. 

Owing to the insufficiency of coal-imports, the products of 
the Austrian industry are reduced to about a quarter of pre-war 
quantities. The paper manufacture, once one of the most flourishing 
branches of Austria's industry, working exclusively on inland 
raw-materials, was occupied in 1920 only with 20% of its entire 
capacity, the textile industry with 25. to 30Vo. The electrical 
industry, having hitherto always worked for exportation, had 
attained in 1920 only a third of its pre-war export-amount. The 
production of salt is reduced to 400/0, nay to 30"/'o. The iron-ore 
mines had an annual output of 600.000 tons, in 1920 they had 
produced only 50.000 tons, a twelfth of the pre-war production. 
The "Alpine Montan-Gesellschaft", to-day the biggest industrial 
concern in Austria, wants a monthly supply of at least 5000 waggons 
of coke. The Austrian collieries not being able to supply any 
part of this want, the Alpine Society is reduced to 250 waggons 
from Germany and 1000 waggons from Silesia (Mahrisch-Ostrau) 
per month. Therefore, the Society was obliged to blow out six 
blast-furnaces out of the seven in working before the war. In the 
face of this penury of coal, the most stringent measures of 
economy must remain ineffectual. 

The coal disaster has directed the views of the public to 
the exploitation of what is called the white coal, viz. the hydraulic 
powers of running water. German-Austria disposes of an enormous 



16 Hydraulic powers in Austrian Alps. 

amount of this latent forces. The kinetic forces of the great 
rivers in the Austrian Alps are calculated, on the strength of 
scientific observations made during a period of several years, at 
1,700.000 H. P., the total amount of all the water-courses at 
about 3 millions H. P., whereof 2,250.000 H. P. economically 
productive! Only by electrifying the traction of the Austrian 
Railways in the Alps, an annual quantity of 7 millions tons of 
coal out of the" total 15 millions could be spared. As long as 
the coal and petrol were available at very moderate rates and in 
practically unlimited quantities, the question of the white coal was of 
secondary importance, the remunerative working of electrical 
power having been very often questioned owing to local conditions. 
On the other hand, the military authorities had been against the 
electric traction of the whole network of railways in the Alps. 
As the matter stood, only 10 "/o of the available hydraulic forces 
were utilised at the beginning of the war. 

The plant for electrical traction of the Austrian State-railways 
in the Alps, about 650 kilometers or a seventh of the total length 
of State-railways in Austria, could be realised by the construction 
of five generating central stations; this work would demand about 
five years. Also private initiative has seized the opportunity, 
notwithstanding the deplorable monetary conditions. Thirty-seven 
new stations generating electic power by hydraulic forces are under 
construction or in working order since 1920. In order to provide 
Vienna with electric current, the Danube will be utilised, along 
with the productive gradient of the Enns and Ybbs rivers, yielding 
an approximate amount of 280 to 400.000 H. P. But the construction 
of electric force stations requires both coal and capital; therefore 
all these schemes could not be realised without the support of 
foreign capital. The lucrativeness seems to be above all doubts, 
as only a fifth of the total demand of electric force is supplied 
by the existing stations. The cost of construction per H. P. was 
1601^ in 1913, but only 100 -J in 1920, owing to the depreciated 
Austrian currency. 

Besides coal, there are many other important raw materials 
wanting in Austria. Only wood, magnesite, iron ore and salt 
are superabundant. But the lack of coal hempers a rational 
exploitation of the riches in iron ore, making impossible to restart 
the blast furnaces. The cement production suffers from the same 



Languishing industries. Railways. |7 

causes, as the brick and tile industry too. The wood-industry 
and furniture manufacturing, once very flourishing, have worl<ed 
especially for exportation. In 1919, the sudden fall of the Austrian 
krone has offered a momentary chance for exportation; but a slight 
bettering in the exchange had stopped at one stroke this movement; 
since then, in spite of an ever increasing depreciation of the 
Austrian currency, the chance has never reappeared. Austria has, 
in his Viennese manufactures, a large stock of skilled workers 
in all branches of higher craft; the Vienna fancy articles, once 
renowned far abroad in all quarters of the world, were produced 
by men of a refined taste and high manual skill. But now, those 
articles of a comparatively high price are not more at the reach 
of the financial means of the average Austrian, and cannot be 
exported for the sake of prehibitory measures against articles of 
luxury in almost all countries. 

Other branches of business, once very remunerative, cannot 
be restarted without the importation of raw materials, e. g. the 
textile, metallurgic, chimical, electrical, or alimentary industries. 
Most of these establishments had worked principally for export- 
trade and could offer all rational securities for foreign investments 
in raw-materials and coal. 

AUSTRIAN RAILWAYS. 

(besides those in the territories occupied by foreign 
Powers January 31, 1920). 

length in kilometers 
single lines double lines 

State Railways ^ worked by the State .... 4.289-968 1.093-275 

I worked by private Companies . 2149 2149 

Private Railways worked by private Companies . 1.971199 434-168 

6.263-316 1.529 592 

The new frontier-lines, dictated by the Peace-treaty, had 
severed from Austria several junctions of first importance. Big 
establishments for the passenger and goods-service near the 
frontiers have been lost; the new frontier stations are neither calculated 
nor suitable for their new functions. The great lines of inter- 
national traffic have been broken up, and only worthless stumps 
remained on Austrian territory. A merchant, wishing to send his 
articles to Italy, is obliged to handle four different railway-tariffs 
and to calculate in four different currencies. The railway merchandise- 



18 Austria blocked by neighbours. 

tariffs are exceedingly higfi, a consequence of the economic 
pressure in autumn 1920. Now they are about fifty times as 
high as in 1914. In spite of these rates, the expenditure exceeds 
the receipts by 1,400,000.000 kronen, In the neighbouring States, 
the tariffs are not less prohibitive in proportion to the rate of 
exchange. After ail, the oscillations of the exchange paralyse all 
efforts to establish rational business calculations. The existing 
difficulties owing to trade regulations, official interference in all 
commercial matters, export or import prohibitions, are infinitely 
enhanced by the intolerable and humiliating vexations in passport 
and personal control matters on the frontier, paralysing all 
personal commercial intersourse. 

Like the other industries, the transport business suffers from 
lack of coal. Between the industry, unable to maintain the means 
of communication in good repair, and the means of transport being 
quite inadequate, there is a vicious circle very difficult to overcome. 

Eastern 1920, the total lack of coal had caused an entire 
interruption of the railway service for several weeks. Since then, 
the situation had ameliorated a little; a stock of coal, sufficient 
for a few days, had been accumulated in order to avoid the 
irrational management, inavoidable when the stocks are almost 
completely exhausted. Also the railway workshops have been set 
in working order lately. 

THE UNEMPLOYMENT. 

Owing to the general industrial crisis, many of the Austrian 
workmen are reduced to idle during several months in the year. 
Even the most skilled hands in the luxury branches, e. g. in the 
graphic arts, are obliged to shift. In order to reduce the growing 
number of unemployed workers, the Government had enacted in 
1919, that every industrial business must engage a surplus of 
one fifth of the average pre-war numbers of workers. But in con- 
sequence of the lack of raw materials, neither this surplus nor 
the ordinary number of workers could be employed continuously; 
therefore the costs of production increased disproportionately. But 
owing to the exhaustion of the international stock in manufactured 
goods in the beginning of 1920 and the fall in the exchange of 
Austrian currency, exportation was nevertheless possible, reducing 
sensibly the number of unemployed. 



Unemployment. J 9 



The oscillations of unemployment are shown in the following 
table: 

RATES OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS: 

1918 1919 



Dez.l^'Feb. P' Apr. 1^' May 1" June P' Aug. 1** Oct. 1=' Nov. 1" 
Vienna (town) . 24503 113905 126906 131500 127556 113379 96300 73023 
Whole Austria . 45675 161803 178562 185238 170935 133400 112340 87107 

1920 



Feb, 9 MayP' June 5 Jule 3 Aug. 14 Sept. 11 Oct. 23 
Vienna (town) . 51979 35956 16005 18321 20550 17964 13028 
Whole Austria . 64483 46850 20510 22956 24184 21056 15046 

Against the total number of actual industrial workers, only 
S-bVo are unemployed. Between November 18, 1918 and March 15, 
1920, the State had paid 370 millions of kronen in assistance 
to unemployed workers; taking in account the additional expenditure 
by the Vienna Municipality, the total amount of assistance to 
unemployed was about 447 millions. In order to substitute the 
official and obligatory assistance by the State, enacted by an 
emergency law after the collapse of the Empire, the law of May 
1*' 1920 instituted the obligatory insurance against unemployment. 
The public treasury, the employers and the employed have each 
an equal share of one third in the expenditure of this service. 
The public sick -fund -offices are charged with the receipt and 
management of these contributions, collected simultanuously with 
those for the sick-fund. The subsidies are granted all workers 
having been actually employed in industrial enterprises during twenty 
weeks in the twelvemonth preceding the unemployment. In the 
future, the subsidies will not be paid for more than twelve 
consecutive weeks. The maximal amount of subsidy is fixed at 
80% of sick-subsidy for married workers and at 60"/ii for 
bachelors. The Government is authorised to enhance, transitorily, 
the subsidies to lOO'/o and 75''/o respectively, and to protract 
the term of subsidies to twenty consecutive weeks. 

SUBSISTENCE. 

Austria is wanting not only raw materials but also food- 
stuffs. The old Austrian Empire too had been dependent on 
importations, although 37 o/o of the entire population had provided 

2* 



Scarcity of 



themselves with food (as against 19»/o in German-Austria). In 
pre-war time, out of 144 i<ilogr. of flour per head and year, 
46 kilogr. were to be imported from abroad. 

German-Austria in her present frontiers produced formerly 
about a fifth of her total consumption of grain. In consequence 
of the ruthless exhaustion of the soil during the war and of the 
lack of artificial manure, the crops have materially diminished, 
so that in 1919, German-Austria had harvested only 4.5 millions 
of m. qu. of grain; this figure, after substracting 15% for seeds, 
and counting 72 "/o as the outcome of the milling process, means 
a daily ration of 103 grammes of flour per head and day, against 
a daily pre-war consumption of 386 grammes per head. German- 
Austria was thus able to provide in pre-war times only 27% of 
her want. For the exceptionally fine harvest of 1920, the Ministry 
for Agriculture calculated a total crop of grain of 5.3 millions 
of m. qu. 



Arable fields 
18.026 



DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL IN SQUARE KM 

Meadows and 

Pasturages 

21.155 



Gardens 
957 



Vineyards 
510 



Forests 
29.763 



Unproductive 

7.780 



HARVESTS ON 17.906 SQUARE KM OF TILLED LAND: 

(official communication to the Commission of Reparations) 
in millions of m. qu. 

absolute ^^^'^°^ P''°P^"' !°' '^"'"^" 

consumption 

1-27 

0-10 

225 

040 



Wheat 


1-68 


Oats 


218 


Rye 


301 


Barley 


113 


Maize 


0-73 


Potatoes 


8-31 


Sugar 


— 


Pulses 


005 



3-60 
008 
0-04 

HARVESTS ACCORDING TO OFFJCIAL ESTIMATIONS 

per hectar 

Average 1909/18 1920 
m. qu. 

Wheat 12-4 10 

Rye 11-8 99 

Barley 11-4 108 

Oats 10-5 8-5 

Potatoes 78-2 75 



Grain and flour. Live stock. 21 

For the needs of the non-agricultural populations, the farmers 
are obliged to deliver to Authority a contingent of 110.000 tons 
of grain. Suppose the whole amount of this contingent were 
delivered — but that is not true — 570.000 tons would be 
lacking to cover the entire want. For the feeding of cattle and 
for industrial purposes, more 100.000 tons of maize and barley 
are required. But it is necessary to bear in mind that only a 
pound of flour and two and a quarter pound of bread is the 
official weekly ration per head. In 1913, Vienna consumed eight 
millions of kilogr. of bread in the week, in 1919 only 2V2 millions; 
in 1913, one million of kilogr. of flour was consumed weekly in 
Vienna, in 1919 only half a million. Between July 1920 and 
July 1921, 73.400 tons of potatoes ought to be delivered to the 
authorities by the farmers. Counting 60 kilogr. at least per head and 
year, this figure shows a deficit of 247.500 tons for German-Austria, 
without counting the feeding of cattle and the seed. ' The only 
four sugar -factories existing within the territories of . German- 
Austria, (180 in the whole Empire) have an output of 12.000 tons 
per year. But the minimum consumption, at the war-rate of 
0.75 kilogr. per head and month, as against 2 kilogr. in pre-war 
times, requires an additional amount of 100.000 tons, not counting 
the quantity of 38.000 tons for industrial purposes. 

In consequence of the terrible diminution of the live stock 
during the war and the severance of vast agricultural tracts of 
first importance by the Treaty of Peace, the dairy service of 
German-Austria is utterly disabled. In 1913, Vienna was povided 
with 850.000 liters of milk per day, but nowadays only with 
60.000 liters. To supply the deficit, Vienna wants 540.000 chests 
of tins of preserved milk at least. 

Austria is now able to provide only 24.000 tons of meat. 
The amount of importations to cover the deficit would be 17.000 
tons for the year ending with July 1921, at the basis of 120 
grammes per head and week (in pre-war time: 595 grammes); 
only 2600 tons of fats were raised during 1920. 

Even when the Government had succeeded in making the 
necessary conventions about the imports of food-stuffs, the schemes 
for the food-supply are very often frustrated by difficulties in 
transport-matters, resulting in a serious crisis in the subsistence 
of the people, like that during November 1920. The bread was 



22 Dearth. Average prices. 



totally unfit and uneatable, so that the public refused to buy it; 
without a prompt help from Germany and Switzerland, the daily 
bread and flour rations could not have been maintained. 

There was much talk about the exorbitant workers' wages 
in Austria in the foreign press, owing to misrepresentation and 
deliberately false reports, in order to show the luxury of the daily 
life of the Austrian worker. In reality, the proportion between 
wages and prices of the first necessities is far more unfavourable 
now than before the war. The same observation is to be made 
for the public and private servants and all persons living on fixed 
salaries. The public servants are enjoying, it is true, the favour 
of not being exposed to unemployment, but their salaries are far 
from raising to the level of the wages of qualified factory-hands, 
working in enterprises under a momentary bloom. All classes of 
Austrian people are generally underfed and therefore, their working 
capacity is enormously shattered. 

The prices of rationed food-stuffs have risen, since pre-war 
time, about twentyfour-fold, the other first necessities of life 
much more, without considering the prices of the back-door- 
trade. 

The following comparative table, containing the average 
weekly expenditure of an average Austrian family of three members 
offers an impressive picture of the astonishing prices of victuals, 
noted in the second half of December 1920, but materially surpassed 
now, excepted the rationed victuals. 







1914 


1920 






austrian 


crowns 


3 kilogr. of 


wheat-flour 


1.20 


150.- 


5 


rye-flour 


-.90 


250'.- 


Vo „ „ 


pore 


1.20 


190.- 


* » » 


cabbage 


-.16 


7.- 


1 „ „ 


rice 


—.44 


60.- 


' ji » 


peas 


-.40 


32.- 


* » >> 


lentils 


-.56 


62.- 


* » » 


groats 


-.44 


50.- 


* W " 


peeled grains 


-.36 


32.- 


' » « 


fat 


1.80 


250.- 


3 


potatoes 


-.30 


30.- 


* J} f> 


salt 


-.14 


8.50 


1 dekagr. „ 


cummin 


-.02 


1.— 


3 pairs of 


ittle sausages 


—.50 


60.- 



Prices and wages. Death- and birth-rates. 23 

1914 1920 

^ austrian crowns 

'/a liter of beer - .16 4.50 

'/, „ „ wine —.20 U.— 

1 „ „ milk —.20 14.— 

3 eggs —.30 36.— 

total 9.28. 1251.— 

These figures show the rise of the expenditure on subsistence 
to the hundred and tirthy-fold, compared with pre-war prices. The 
salaries and wages have been left far behind this dearness. Sir 
William Goode calculated the rise of the wages of industrial 
workers at twenty to thirty times, of railway-men at twelve to 
fourteen times, for State-officials, bank-clerks and others at ten 
times the pre-war level. 

This disproportion between income and expenditure, enhanced 
from time to time by fresh waves of general dearth, leads ineluctably 
to permanent unrest and claims for higher wages, endangering 
the economic and public life by strikes, it was only thanks to the 
discretion of the workers and employees and thanks to the conciliatory 
interference of the Syndicates and public Authorities that Austria 
was exempted till to day from serious social troubles. 

But nobody is capable to prevent the physical consumption ' 
of the people, a chronic disease diminishing the working power 
and destroying the very root of the vital energies. The figures of 
the vital statistics show a vivid picture of this serious illness. 

During the war, the number of living births was steadily 
diminishing in Austria, the number of deaths, above all the deaths 
by tuberculosis increasing. The increase of deaths affected all 
classes of ages of both sexes. After the war, there have been 
many notable changes in the figures. The number of living births 
augmented, between 1918 and 1919, from 90.921 to 109.392, viz. 
more than 20"/o. All the provinces shared this increase; in Vienna, 
there were 5090 more births in 1919 than in 1918. The number 
of deaths (civil population) decreased from 161.113 to 123.837 
between 1918 and 1919, viz. more than 23''/o. But it is necessary 
to insist upon the fact that in 1919, the influenza had taken away 
in Austria more than 20.000 persons, but in 1920 had lost most 
of its virulence. The death-rate decreased equally in all the province.^; 
in Vienna, it was 4.713. 



ik.<V 



24 A people destined to extinction. 

Notwithstanding the increase of living births, the birth-rate 
is very small; but the death-cate is very high, although the deaths 
having decreased. In 1919, for every 1000 inhabitants, there were 
returned 18 living births and 2O.4 deaths, resulting in a deficit of 
2.4 births. During several months, a slight amelioration was 
ascertained; but in November, the death-rate was higher than in 
any year — november 1918 excepted — since long ago. The highest 
figures are concerning the heart- and vascular-diseases, not more 
the tuberculosis as in the previous period. But in Vienna, the 
tuberculosis is still growing (9809 deaths in 1919 against 8950 
in 1918). 

The excessively high death-rate in Austria is therefore not 
due to epidemics, but to the dearth and general misery. The 
infectious diseases, the Health-office is able to combat, have not 
increased. 

Only a general reconstruction of the public life could ameliorate 
the public health in Austria. The large majority of the people live 
in a state of utter misery; the number of those, whose chronic 
enfeeblement has turned to an incurable disease is growing every 
day. The Austrian people has not yet been stamped out totally 
by sheer famine, but the birth-rate has fallen to a level only 
Kown in aborigenes of remote countries, condeinned to extinction. 
Amidst the thousands of underfed children and women, the "white 
death", the tuberculosis is making terrible ravages. 

ALIMENTARY AND HYGIENIC SITUATION OF THE YOUTH. 

The long war and, more than the war, the consequences of 
the great struggle, had a pernicious influence on the alimentary 
and sanitary conditions of the youth. 

The children having been reared during life war are, generally 
speaking, visibly deficient in bodily strength, tallness and weight; 
rickets have enormously increased and materially contributed to 
the rise of the juvenile death-rate. 

The Austrian youths have been, in recent times, often examined 
by medical men in the course of the general works of charity, 
especially in view of the distribution of meals and the returns 
of these inspections have been minutely registered. 

The census of nursing mothers and suckling babies is 
entrusted to the "Maternity-offices". The school-boys and girls 



Languishing children. 25 



have been repeatedly examined by the official school-physicians, 
responsible for the medical supervision of public schools, as 
well as by physicians appointed by private charitable institutions 
and by physicians in the service of the numerous foreign orga- 
nisations for Austria's help. The children above 14 of age have 
been examined in the higher schools and art and crafts schools, 
by the physicians of the educational staff, many of these juveniles 
also by physicians in foreign service. 

The mothers, not being able to buy artificial or ready made 
foodstuffs, nurse their babies at the breast as long as possible, 
six months, nay nine or twelve months. The sanitary condition of 
these babies is therefore quite satisfactory. 

But the sanitary condition of the little children (from one 
to six years of age) is extremely bad, almost everything wanting, 
or being too expensive, such a child is in need of after the suckling 
period, in the open country, conditions are somewhat better, but 
much the worse in industrial centres, above all in Vienna. 

in spite of the humanitary work of the "Society of Friends" 
for the rescue of little children, the returns of the medical 
examinations, made in the beginning of the winter 1920, were 
most unsatisfactory. 85.000 boys and girls were examined; 107o 
only were returned in the class "good", 907o as shattered in their 
physical strength. 18% of those boys and girls were returned 
as sick, thereof 5% suffering from chronic diseases, condemned 
to a life-long sickness. 

Also the dwellings of those ill-fed children were visited; 
42% of these dwellings are unfit, dark, ill-aerated, damp or 
crowded, 47% thereof not containing berth-accommodation for the 
children. 

The number of underfed boys and girls is as equally high 
in the so-called middle-classes, living on fixed salaries or occupied 
in free vocations, as in the industrial working classes. Even in 
the classes of commercial and industrial employers, the alimentary 
conditions are not much better. 

Out of 50.000 children of less of six years of age under 
medical inspection, 33% suffer from rickets, 147o from anaemia. 
The comparatively small figures of tuberculosis is due to the 
fact that only ambulant children were returned, children in bed 
not being included in the census. 



26 90% of little children underfed. 

Detailed particulars have been obtained for the alimentary 
conditions of the Vienna school-going youths (from 6 to 14 years 
of age). About 130.000 girls and boys have been examined in 
Vienna, 90.000 in Lower-Austria. In spite of the munificent 
help from foreign countries, the alimentation of this class of youth 
is highly deficient. Only 28 "/o of all these boys and girls were 
classified as "good" and "middling", 72 "/o as "bad" and "very 
bad". The beneficial influence of foreign help is clearly shown 
by the fact that girls, largely favoured by foreign families and 
other benefactors and staying much longer time in foreign countries, 
have a comparatively very large share in the "good" and "middling" 
classification. 

44% of all boys under medical inspection were returned as 
"very bad", against 38 "/o of girls; the classification "bad" was 
returned for 33 Vo of boys and 28% of girls, "good" for T'/o of 
boys and 14Vo of girls. 

About 85.000 examined school-boys and girls were returned 
"very bad", 65.000 "bad", against 20.000 (10 Vo) "good". 

The classification had been established on the basis of 
exhaustive and minute measurements and weighing. 

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE YOUTH. 

The unhappy state of things appealed to an effective organi- 
sation of official alimentary and medical help for the children. 
An exhaustive scheme for assistance was drafted, the existing 
charitable organisations incorporated in the official work and 
the private institutions largely provided by the State with victuals, 
fuel and money in the measure of available means. 

In several larger towns. Children's Assistance-Boards were 
founded, in all provinces a Provincial Children's AsSistance-Board 
is working, in Vienna, the works of private charity are amalgamated 
in two great corporations: the "League of voluntary Childrens 
Assistance" and the "Charitas". The supreme board for all matters 
concerning infantile and children's assistance is incorporated in 
the Ministry for Social Administration. 

The Inland Children's Assistance is divided in the following 
branches: 1. Food-help for nursing mothers and suckling babies, 
2. Assistance for homes, asylums and similar institutions for 
abnormal, crippled, tuberculous and rickety children; 3. distribution 



Public and private assistance for children. 27 

of meals for children (monetary assistance for working expen- 
diture); 4. holiday organisations; 5. Collecting office. 

All nursing mothers and suckling babies are officially entitled 
to receive State-subsidies. The number of babies assisted by these 
subsidies in form of food-stuffs were 194.034 (only in towns and 
industrial centres, but excluding Vienna). 

Austria enjoys a very large number of private institutions 
of every description for assistance to children. In the first instance, 
the orphanages, orphan-asylums and homes are to be mentioned, 
numbering in ail 120; furthermore, 50 educational institutions, 
and about 80 infant-homes and asylums. For suckling babies and 
little children : about 200 creches and children's homes, the same 
number of kindergartens, 200 day-time shelters for school-children, 
20 apprentices' homes and 100 evening-homes for girls and boys 
employed in industrial or commercial work. A certain number 
of holiday-institutions, especially for children engaged in business, 
have been transformed lately in standing country -homes. This 
most beneficial progress was obtainable only by the means of 
foreign help. Also disabled and crippled children are provided 
for by some deaf- dumb and blind children's homes, lately also 
by the foundation of a kindergarten and a home for deaf-dumb- 
blind children. 

The sanatorium for tuberculous children in Vienna, called 
"Spinnerin am Kreuz" (400 beds) has enjoyed the special care 
of private benefactors. Thanks to the munificence of the Swedish 
Red Cross, this institution has lately very effectivly developped 
its activity. Another institution, virtually a day-time home for 
100 tuberculous children, yielded similarly good results, also thanks 
to foreign help (Society of friends, League of American and of 
Danish Women). In the same manner, the Sanatorium of Grimmen- 
stein (400 beds) for children suffering from tuberculous osteo- 
maiaxia, is kept in working order by the Swedish Red Cross. — 

The Vienna school-children have been afforded with a holiday- 
stay in the country. With the help of the Youth's Assistance Board 
and private charity, most of them were enabled to sojourn six or 
eight weeks in a holiday -colony or in special homes. A con- 
siderable number of children were sheltered by farmers against 
a slight allowance. In all, about 50.000 Viennese children spent 
a holiday in Austria. 



28 Foreign help. Maternity-offices. 

A Christmas-Collection, organized by the Minister of Social 
Administration and devoted to the Assistance of the Youth, had 
yielded many millions of kronen. A similar enterprise made by 
the Society of Friends, had also resulted in a very large sum 
of money. 

in spite of all these exertions, neither the Assistance of the 
State and the Municipality of Vienna nor private Charity can 
possibly triumph over the steadily increasing misery in this battle 
to provide the strict necessary amount of food and to rescue the 
youth from sickness and death. 

But the early succour from abroad, beginning already in 
autumn 1918 and concentrating all its efforts to the salvation of 
the youth, was the greatest blessing in this terrible struggle. 

The effectual work of the foreign Committees in favour of 
the Austrian Institutions of Assistance for the Youth is divided 
as follows: 1^' help for the pre -school age; 2^ help for school- 
boys and girls by sending them in foreign country during the 
holidays, by distribution of meals, clothes, linen, footgear and 
victuals. (The two last-named actions extend the help also to 
juveniles.) 

Suckling babies and little children (till six years of age) are 
under the special care of the Society of Friends, whose action 
had begun with the guidance of the Director of the State Maternity- 
Office and extended its beneficial influence in ever increasing 
proportions. The census of suckling-babies and little children is 
carried through by the Maternity-Offices, having been in existence 
before the break-down of the Empire and multiplied since. The 
total number of such offices stands now at about 350, whereof 
in Vienna 42, in Lower Austria (without Vienna) 173. The suckling- 
babies, since lately also the little children, are weighed once in 
every week in the Maternity-Offices, are maintained under careful 
medical control and are provided, against a little contribution 
by the parents, with certain foodstuffs indispensable for the rearing 
of a baby, e. g. groat, cocoa, preserved milk, or fresh milk 
(only for sick babies). There, the babies are also provided with 
babies-linen and -clothes. 

TheBritish Vienna Emergency Relief Fund had aimed especially 
the reform of the boarding-system for childern. To this effect, a 
large sum of money had been delivered by this fund to grant 



Austrian children in foreign countries. 29 

the boarding persons higher allowances for their pupils. Hospitals 
habitually send their convalescent children in boarding-houses in 
the country in order to have at their command any available bed 
for children wanting immediate medical assistance. 

But perhaps the most touching example of international 
solidarity in distress and calamity is the wide-spread action of 
boarding Austrian children in foreign countries. During 1919, 
about 40.000 Austrian children enjoyed foreign hospitality. In the 
first place, it was Switzerland, having sheltered, fed and clothed 
more than 20.000 children, Holland with almost 10.000, other 
countries, as Sweden, Danmark, Germany and Italy with the rest. 
During 1920, this work of charity developed enormously; in 
January, February and July, about 90.000 Austrian children stayed 
in foreign countries (total number till to-day 124.000), almost all 
of them in families. Switzerland and Holland go ahead also in 
1920, followed by Danmark, Germany, Luxemburg, Sweden, Norway, 
Italy, Spain and Roumania (Transsylvania), finally England, Belgium 
and France. 

The average duration of a child's stay in foreign country 
was about three months, but in many cases (especially in Sweden, 
Norway and England) much longer, six to twelve months. Many 
childern are urgently invited to return in the next year; the recently 
dispatched railway-trains contained many children going for the 
second time to their fosterers. Quite recently, also little children 
under six years of age are sent in foreign countries, and many orphans 
have been adopted there. 

In the average, after a stay of two months abroad, a sensible 
increase in weight has been ascertained; the average increase for 
such a time is about 3 — 4 kilogr., in certain cases till 5 and 
6 kilogr. After a stay of four to five months, certain children had 
gained 10—16 kilogr. in weight. But all return home, bodily and 
mentally restored and invigorated. 

A great number of foreign fosterers are in the habit of 
sending regulary food-supplies to their departed darlings, or remit 
to them money-orders enabling them to buy the necessary victuals. 
Many of the children are coming back richly provided with linen 
and clothes, others are helped by parcels of such articles, regularly 
sent to them. 



30 Soup-kitchens for children. 

Not only these advantaged children, but many others are 
provided with victuals, shoes and clothes by foreign charitable 
institutions. Above all, the Society of Friends, under the leadership 
of Dr. Clark, must be mentioned; they take care in the first instance 
for pregnant and nursing women, for suckling babies and little 
children; in the second line the Swiss Committee, the Danish 
Womens Ring, and the American Help for Children. The "dollar- 
parcels" containing victuals of the said American Help are 
distributed to Hospitals, Asylums, Convalescent-Homes and similar 
charitable institutions. An other work, destined to distribute fuel, 
had been organized by British initiative. At Christmas, the foreign 
works distributed large quantities of clothes, shoes and victuals. 

Quite recently, the foreign help had shaped in the form of 
assuming the management of a certain given Austrian institution 
exhausted of all monetary means due to the general impoverishment. 
In this manner, the Swedish Red Cross manages the Vienna 
Hospital for tuberculous children "Spinnerin am Kreuz", the Dutch 
childern's Committee the Home at Neulengbach for juvenile girls 
and, during the summer holidays, the student's home at 
St. Wolfgangsee. The Dutch Huisvestings -Committee maintains 
in Vienna and at Gollersdorf a Children's Home. A New-York 
German-American Committee for Help manages the Convalescent's 
Home for rickety cildren at Tivoli near Vienna. Another New- 
York-Committee (Vienna Milk Relief) inaugurated lately a Home 
in the barracks of the War-Hospital Grinzing in Vienna. 

The school-boys and girls, suffering doubly, being ill-fed and 
therefore improper to fulfill the claims of the school, have been 
particularly helped by the distribution of meals, organized by the 
American Help for Children. 

This magnificent action, inaugurated two years ago in the 
then existing popular kitchens in Vienna, had been extended in 
such a manner as to distribute now 300.000 daily rations, repre- 
senting a monetary value of 4,500.000 kronen a day. Of this 
figure, 151.000 rations are distributed in Vienna, 45.000 in Lower 
Austria, 13.000 in Salzburg, 12.000 in Tyrol, 5.000 in Vorarlberg, 
36.000 in Styria, and 11.000 in Carinthia. Also apprentices (in 
Vienna almost 14.000 rations) are now included in this work. 
The selection is operated by an exhaustive medical examination; 



General house-hunting. 31 



only underfed or suffering childern are entitled to enjoy the 
distributions. 

Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch works are concerned in the 
distribution of meals for about 20.000 juveniles. 

THE SCARCITY OF DWELLING-HOUSES. 

The lack of adequate housing is one of the most deplorable 
legacies of the great war. Especially in Vienna, the crisis has 
attained dreadful proportions, endangering seriously the public 
health. The two primary causes are: the deadlock in the building 
trade since the outbreak of the war and the reduction in the 
number of available dwelling houses, caused by the steady decay 
and dilapidation of houses, the proprietors not being able to 
provide for the necessery repairs. 

January 31, 1920, the number of habitable houses in Vienna 
was 43.180, showing an increase of only 6.33 "/o compared with 1910, 
against the normal increase of 13.8''/o between 1910 and 1900. 

During 1920, the crisis had become even more alarming 
than in the previous years. Very often, two families are compelled 
to dwell, with their children, in a single lodging, composed of 
a chamber and a kitchen. All family-affairs, births, illnesses, deaths 
come to pass in the presence of all inhabitants in a single room, 
used very often as kitchen too. Very often also, the members of 
a numerous family are scattered about in every direction, provi- 
sionally harboured by friends or relatives, whilst the furniture 
are deposited in a warehouse. But this warehousing of furniture 
is far too expensive for the means of an average middle-class 
household in Vienna; thus, the furniture is sold piecemeal to the 
broker and in the very moment of getting a lodging, there is no 
furniture available. A specific and curious difficulty is arising 
from the lack of dwellings: neither the public authorities nor 
private enterprises can engage employees to come to Vienna, not 
being able to provide the required rooms to dwell in. Repeatedly, 
the Government was unable to nominate at a vacant professorship 
in the higher schools for the same reason. 

Also in the suburban districts of Vienna, the houses of all 
descriptions are overcrowded; the cottages and country-houses, 
calculated only for dwelling purposes in the summer-time, therefore 
without fire-places, are now occupied also during the winter-time. 



32 Bankruptcy of the building trade. 

The reports of Public Assistance inspectors are crammed with 
heartrending particulars about the misery of inadequate dwellings: 
childern born and reared in underground rooms, live in obscurity 
and dampness, the fuel, niggardly distributed by authority, barely 
sufficing to prepare the frugal meals. The immediate consequence 
is an overwhelming infantile mortality and an overcrowding of the 
hospitals with sick children. 

The Vienna Municipality had made laudible efforts to reanimate 
the building trade by assuming the net losses of construction or 
granting the interests and redemption of invested capitals. The 
construction of a cluster of little dwelling houses, built under 
these conditions in Vienna, Margarethengiirtel, containing 1 1 1 
small and medium lodgings, was continued till 35 dwellings were 
finished. But the enormous rise in the prices of material, transport 
and labour, calculated in 1919 at 11 millions for the whole 
enterprise, had the effect that the building expenditure for one 
small dwelling stands to-day at 300.000 kronen, thus the total 
expenses for the whole work at above 23 millions of kronen. It 
is hoped that this expensive experiment will be finished in the 
first months of 1921. In autumn 1920, a settlement, managed _by 
the Municipality of Vienna in the region of "Schmelz", was 
finished. It is a considerable cluster of little two-storied dwelling 
houses, containing in all 305 little and medium sized lodgings. 
The total expenditure was 100 millions of kronen, thus the average 
cost of each dwelling about 300.000 kronen. For another settlement, 
the expenditure was sensibly less; it is a colony near Vienna, 
at Gross-Jedlersdorf, founded by the "Cooperative Society of cheap 
dwelling-house constructions". The total amount of expenditure 
for 160 lodgings, whereof 24 are now inhabited, will be 22 millions 
of kronen, thus the average cost of each one 137.000 kronen. 
But this enterprise had begun and continued working before the 
war. Owing to the uncalculable sums spent without chance of 
recovery in the building trade, those experiments will prove utter 
failures for a long space of time to come. 

After the bankruptcy of the building trade, private initiative 
was challenged: the architect being unable to build a house, the 
would-be dweller must put his own hands to the work, without 
calling for help to others, and build for himself a clay cottage 
or a log- house. The Vienna Municipality entered in communication 



Habitation-office. Undesirable aliens. 33 

with Private Initiative Societies in order to furnish them with the 
required building plots either on tenancy orby expropriation. The next 
future will vouchsafe information respecting the viability of this scheme, 
particularly if the Municipality will be able to rise the sums necessary 
to cover the expenses of expropriation and building materials. 

Presently, the Habitation-office is engaged only in the 
registration and assignment of available and exigible lodgings, 
apartments and Hotel-chambers by virtue of the Provincial by-law 
of June 30, 1919. The outcome of this activity was: 11.703 lodgings 
and 4918 single rooms, whereof 7840 lodgings and 2370 single 
rooms were assigned till the end of 1920. But this stock will be 
soon exhausted, the subsequent inspections hot yielding but very 
scanty results. The Habitation-office was indeed endeavouring to 
increase the number of available lodgings by declaring exigible 
the lodging of foreigners under charge of offence against the laws 
(concealment of articles of first necessity, back-door trade 6cc.). 
But hitherto, these measures proved ineffective, IMe term of option 
for the Austrian nationality being fixed at January 15, 1921, and, 
on the other hand, the expelled individuals not being able tb leave 
Vienna, in default of passports and visa. Hence, the very legitimate 
hope of the indigenous Viennese population to get rid of these 
immigrants from Poland, mostly of a very doubtful respectability, 
has vanished. Moreover, those immigrants, living from the rationed 
food delivered by Government, are a heavy burden to public 
expenditure. Without considering these difficulties, the Succession 
States continue to expulse Austrian subjects, causing them heavy 
losses, as they are obliged to abandon their moveables. The 
cantonments at Gmund, built during the war for the fugitives of 
invaded border-districts, and those at Sigmundsherberg, received 
in 1920 a large number of those exiles, mostly railway-men 
expulsed from Czecho-Slovakia. Until this day, the cantonments 
at Gmund are occupied by hundreds of hornless railway employees, 
now serving in Austria. 

Austria has not yet succeeded to get rid of the numerous 
Polish immigrants, hurried up to Vienna from Galicia during the 
war, charged with fraudulous enhancement of prices, concealment 
of food-articles, illegal trade and similar crimes. Poland has 
hitherto refused to deliver them the passports and Czecho-Slovakia 
refused to give permission of transit without these documents. 



34 Revival of national industry. 

LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION. 

Although the National Assembly realised the fact that Austria 
could not disentangle herself by using her proper means out of 
her desparate situation, the Assembly did not deterr from tempting 
even the impossible to save the country from a certain collapse 
and prepare for it a better future. The Assembly voted, amongst 
many others, a law about home-colonisation and a law encouraging 
agriculture. The working collieries were developed and abandoned 
collieries restarted. But the insignificance of the coal-fields in 
the Austrian Alps made it inevitable to concentrate all efforts 
and all means available in the working of the so-called white 
coal, viz. the hydraulic forces, of which German Austria commands 
an inexhaustible amount of latent energy. 

An "Hydraulic and Electric Power office" was created and 
a law providing the electric traction for the Austrian railways 
was voted. 

In view of a revival of the national industries, a system of 
exchanging raw materials with manufactured goods made out of 
those materials was organized. A joint -stock company, "Treuga", 
was commissioned to procure, under the control of the Government, 
to the industrial enterprises the financial means necessary to buy 
the raw materials from abroad and. from oversea. The "Treuga" 
cooperates with a corporation of banking concerns in Holland, 
the so-called Reconstruction concern, and is called to supplant 
the bureaucratic apparatus, instituted in time of war with the 
view of procuring to the Government the necessary raw materials 
from foreign countries. For safeguarding the legitimate interests 
of the foreigners a right of ownership is vested in the manu- 
factured goods in favour of the foreign creditor till effective 
delivery of those goods. The Cornmission for reparations has 
desisted from their rights of mortgage upon the raw materials 
thus procured. 

The Committee, instituted within the pale of the Government 
to investigate and prepare for, the socialisation of industrial labour 
did very soon ascertain the impossibility of such schemes in the 
present political and economic situation of Austria. Therefore, 
the Comittee proposed first the creation of certain enterprises 
based upon joint interests of the State or Municipalities and 



Attempted socialisations. 35 



managed by private enterprise, but to renounce provisionally arty 
expropriation in industrial matter. The first trial was made with 
the "Combined boot- and leather factories", managed by the State 
jointly with the Wholesale Business of the Association of Cooperative 
Societies of Austria and the Society of Agricultural Commerce. 
This enterprise has manufactured or mended in six months one 
pair of footgear for the third part of the whole population of 
Austria. The exportation of driving-belts had procured in the 
same time a net benefice of eight millions kronen. 

The Office of drugs, organised by the State with the cooperation 
of the United Hospitals of Vienna has incorporated also a certain 
number of other private enterprises in view of the ultimate 
monopolisation of the drug-commerce in Austria to the advantage 
of the unpecunious classes of the people. 

The final effect of all this activity is, in the hope of its 
promotors, to create socialised model enterprises, yielding a 
considerable benefit for the Treasury. 

To the sphere of purely fiscal reforms belongs the law on 
the Great Fortune-tax (Capital-levy) and other minor acts. 

During the early years of the war, public opinion was 
unanimous about the necessity of discharging the immense burdens 
of war by an impost upon the property itself. An official inquiry 
made by the State-Council immediately after the armistice to 
elucidate the question of an impost upon the fortune and a tax 
upon the surplus-value of all taxable objects resulted in the vote 
of the advisability of both taxes, to be devoted exclusively or 
chiefly to the repayment of the war-loans. But the debasement 
of the currency had a quite unexpected effect: the interests for 
war-debts, once the gravest problem of the Treasury, had fallen 
into insignificance compared with the daily expenses for food 
or fuel. To raise the necessary funds for this purposes had 
become the unique care of the Administration. Therefore, the 
platform of coalition between the Socialists and the Christian- 
Social Party declared to devote the returns of the Capital-levy 
chiefly to the acquisition of foreign values. In the second place, 
those returns should be employed in the formation of a sinking fund 
for war-debts, for the balance of the annual deficit and, lastly, 
for the participation of the State in certain industrial businesses 
of vital importance. 



36 Capital levy. 



After six month's arduous labour, the Parliament voted, 
June 21, the Capital -Levy -Act. in the very last moment, the 
Reparations -Commission exacted the insertion of this clause: 
"this law shall take effect only so far as it does not encroach 
"upon the provisions of the Treaty of Peape and of the dispatch 
"of the Commission for reparations, dated May 21, 1920". But 
the Commission added a solemn declaration that the returns 
of the Capital-levy should not be confiscated in any way, but 
abandoned freely and entirely to the purposes determined by 
the law. 

The Capital -levy -act limits at 30.000 kronen the maximal 
value of any fortune exempted from the levy. This maximal value 
is raised to 60.000 kronen for a married couple and augmented 
by 15.000 kronen for each minor child. The fortunes of husband 
and wife are considered collective. The first 20.000 kronen of 
imposable fortune are subjected to a charge of 5 "Z,,, the second 
ones of 7 "/o a- s. f. The maximal charge is of 65 7o for fortunes 
superior of ten millions of kronen. 

The levy is payable on principle in three annuities. But if 
the fortune be composed, for more than two fifths of the total 
value, of real estates, the levy may be paid, for four fifths of the 
total sum due, in fife to twenty annuities. Joint-stock companies 
are given the option between discharging the duty in cash or 
gratis shares; in both cases, the entire levy is due in three 
annuities. The discharge in public fund papers is not permitted 
to the joint-stock companies. Many of these companies, unable 
to procure the means necessery for the discharge of this duty 
will be obliged to give up gratis shares, enabling thus the State 
to control immediately certain big financial or industrial concerns. 
The landed property must assume a mortgage in favour of the 
Capital-levy; this mortgage must be inscribed in the cadastre if 
the total levy be not paid untill 1922. Probably most of the land- 
owners, in order to elude from mortgaging their property, will 
renounce the privilege of annuities. In all cases, the State will 
be the holder of negociable mortgages of first rank. All rate- 
payers who will discharge their duties in the two first months 
of 1921, shall enjoy particular benefices. The liberal and moderate 
estimation of the landed property, expressly recommen(led by 
the law, will produce a sensible reduction of the rates. The estates 



Income-tax. 37 



are valued according to the average rent of 1913 to 1919; the 
implements, machinery and stock in hand according to their 
prime-cost, notwithstanding the enormous discrepancy between 
the pre-war and the actual prices. Also the movables and values 
are not estimated according to their actual prices or current 
exchange, but according to the average prices and interests put 
together, without considering the current prices, far superior to 
their productive value. 

This law outvies by far the so called German "National sacrifice" 
or the similar Czecho-Slovak impost on the fortune. The Austrian 
capital-levy is expected to produce some eight to twelve milliards 
whereof 2V2 milliards in the fiscal year of 1920/21. 

After having voted the Capital-levy-act, the National Assembly 
was engaged in the discussion of the reforms of the income-tax. 
The annual income exempt from taxation was raised considerably, 
owing to the depreciated currency, the rates seriously reduced 
for the inferior degrees, including the majority of working people 
and lesser employees and considerable abatements allowed for 
families with numerous children. Nothwithstanding these remis- 
sions, the new income-tax will produce in the future great surplus 
returns owing principally to the accelerated scale in the higher 
degrees (till 60 "/o for incomes superior to 2,200.000 kronen) and 
to the increased numbers of taxe -payers. Henceforward all em- 
ployers are obliged to retain the income-tax quota from the 
weekly wages paid and to pay them immediately to the revenue 
offices. In this way, hundreds of thousand workmen not having 
hitherto paid any taxes in default of revenue officers during the 
war, will contribute to defray the public expenses. 

Dtiring the second session, the National Assembly voted a 
number of laws of first importance for the public life. The pro- 
visional National Assembly having voted as yet the law about 
the eight hours labor in all great industrial businesses, the National 
Assembly voted in december 1919 an amendment, extending the 
dally eight hours- (or weekly 48 hours-) labour to the whole 
industry, including clerical work. Arbitration-courts, composed of 
representatives of employers, workmen and the official inspection, 
are authorised to grant exceptions for certain branches, In other 
cases, exceptions may be permitted with approval of the Syndi- 



38 Arbitration-courts. Domestic servants. ' 

cate, the official labour inspection and the administrative official. 
Surplus hours are to be overpaid at a rate of 50% at least. 

In the same time, the law about the Arbitration Courts and 
another about collective labour contracts were carried. The 
Arbitration Courts, presided by an official and composed of dele- 
gates of employers and employed, will act as obligatory boards 
of mediation in the conflicts wich may arise through the activity 
of Syndicates, trusts or workmen -councils. These courts are 
appointed to settle and register collective labour-contracts and 
to give opinions on the interpretation of these contracts. They 
are authorised to make by-laws for the regulation of labour, the 
law determining only the general conditions for concluding 
collective contracts. The Arbitration -Courts are invested with 
the duty of publishing legally those contracts; after this publication, 
all the contracts between employers and workers within the 
jurisdiction of the given Court are subjected to the conditions of 
the published collective contract. Exceptions from this rule are 
admissible only in so far as favouring the workers or concerning 
matters not provided for in the collective contract. The Arbitration 
Court may, on proposal of the Administrative authorities or a 
Syndicate, declare binding any collective contract or parts thereof. 

February 1920, the "Workers and Employees Chamber's"-Act 
was voted. After the standard ol the Chambers of Commerce, those 
new Chambers are constituted in view of delivering opinions or 
making proposals concerning the regulation of labour, labour- 
insurance, labour-bureaux or any other matters interesting the 
industry, the public economy, transports or the welfare of the 
private employees in general. 

An other law settles the condition of domestic servants. The 
law warrants to those persons an uninterrupted time of rest 
between 9 o'clock in the evening till 6 o'clock in the morning, 
and a leisure time of four consecutive hours in one afternoon of 
each week. Once out of two Sundays, the servants are allowed 
to leave the house for eight hours; they are granted a certain 
annual leave at integral wages and gratis medical treatment. The 
service-books and the conditions of dismissal are regulated, the 
jurisdiction of police-courts in domestic servant matters abolished, 
the ordinary and Arbitration Courts being solely competent in this 



Abolition of courts-martial. Model-schools. 39 

matter. More extensive prerogatives are accorded to tutors and 
governesses. 

The act concerning public gambling, dated May P' 1920, 
settles a tax on all games in public places; the receipts are allotted 
to the assistance of war-invalids, widows and orphans of veterans. 
In June 1920, the law prescribing the obligatory insurance against 
illness for all public officers, was enacted. The law concerning 
the insurance against unemployment will be treated in another 
chapter. 

Whilst not succeeding in the general reform of judicial ad- 
ministration, the National Assembly had still accomphshed a great 
number of reforms of secondary importance, e. g. the abolition 
of courts-martial and the law prescribing the competence of 
ordinary penal courts in crimes committed by military persons in 
actual service, the law about conditional punishments, about the 
creation of courts of jurors, reform of the juries, and, finally, the 
new act concerning the literatury and artistic property, enforced 
upon Austria by the Peace-treaty. 

November 1919, the model-schools-act was voted. In these 
public colleges, gifted children of all classes of the people, 
regardless of their pecuniary circumstances, are admitted gra- 
tuitously. For this purpose, the ci-devant military colleges have 
been adapted; these educational establishments, provided with 
magnificent premises, pares and play-grounds afford all means 
for a perfectioned education; the schooling is entrusted to well- 
experienced and carefully selected teachers. The first course 
consists of a uniform four year's secondary training; the second 
course is divided, according to the individual aptitudes of the 
students, in different branches: modern higher school (Realschule), 
agronomic training, arts and crafts school, housekeeping instruction 
for girls &c. The Undersecretary of State for public instruction 
made detailed accounts, during the debates, about the activity of 
the new model-schools, the progress of the improved educational 
methods, working in order to substitute to the old passive cram- 
ming the new active cooperation of the scholar, the reforms of 
trainings-colleges for teachers, above all the higher training-college 
of Vienna <Sc. At the beginning of the scholastic year 1920/21, 
the primary schools were able to adopt the new carefully prepared 
pedagogic methods. 



40 ■ Public health. Tuberculosis. 

Special care was bestowed upon the post-scolar popular 
instruction. Special training-schools for teachers engaged in this 
important branch of public education were founded; an ambulant 
model-theatre, subventioned by the Education -Department will 
give representations of classical dramas in the country-towns. 

The public health-administration in Austria suffered till 1920 
from the consequences of the great war. But in any case, the 
medical and chirurgical treatment of the victims of war, returned 
from the battlefields and from captivity, could be considered as 
happily terminated. The number of war -victims, in treatment in 
the public and private hospitals of German Austria, has lowered 
in 1920 from 7183 to 2219. A large number of military hospitals 
have been transmitted to the civil sanitary authorities, amongst 
them very extensive establishments, like the Viennese Hospital 
for Orthopaedy and cranial lesions. 

Immediately after the war, the Austrian Health -Office had 
established everywhere dispensaries for the cure of sexual diseases; 
there, indigent persons of both sexes receive gratuitous treatment 
and medicaments. In all, fourty eight such dispensaries are in 
working order in Vienna and in the provinces. Special attention 
is bestowed on girls and young women suffering from these 
diseases; special clinical establishments have been created with 
the help of charitable institutions. For the study of the influence 
of the Great war on the extension of these diseases, and in view 
of obtainig sure information about the figures to be dealt with 
in the struggle against this scourge, a general census of the 
persons concerned has been undertaken between November 15 
and December 14, 1920; the returns will be studied exhaustively 
and published in due time. 

The struggle against tuberculosis is beset, after the conclusion 
of peace, even with much more difficulties than during the war. 
Medically speaking, most Austrian people cannot afford to incor- 
porate, in the shape of articles of food, the quantity of caloric 
units necessary to maintain the equilibrium of physical functions, 
much less to accumulate the required reserve fund of forces to 
resist infections. Under these conditions, the number of victims 
of tuberculosis has augmented considerably. Similarly, the progress 
of any given case has been more rapid than in the time of 
sufficient food-supply. By the shortness of financial means, the 



Preventive and curative measures. 41 

Public Health-administration is seriously handicapped in the 
struggle against the tuberculosis ; the multiplication of preventive 
measures cannot keep pace with tlie ever increasing speed of 
the propagation of phtisis. The only really effective measure 
seems to be even now an energetic prophylaxis. 

As soon as 1916, the Public Health Office had begun the 
organisation of preventive establishments for phtisic persons. 
These establishments are taking firstly the census of phtisic persons 
in their sphere of action; afterwards, they send to the hospitals 
those ones most dangerously ill, and make attend at home or 
in a sanatorium those ones considered curable. Specially instructed 
nurses are visiting regularly the dwellings in order to detect 
and disinfect centres of contagion. Till now, German Austria is 
provided with fourty-four anti-tuberculosis establishments, thirteen 
of them in Vienna. 

Also the treatment of tuberculosis has been the object of 
assidous labours. The model tuberculosis hospitals for indigent 
patients at AUand, Enzenbach, Grafenhof and Hoergas have been 
substantially enlarged by extensive barrack -systems, and other 
similar hospitals have been founded. In the last year, popular 
tuberculosis sanatoriums have been opened at Gaisbuhel (Vorarl- 
berg), Stolzalpe (Styria) and Grimmenstein (Lower Austria). The 
two last-named are specially devoted to the treatment of phtisic 
children, suffering from tuberculous osteomalaxy and adenalgy. 
In all, in twenty-nine sanatoriums, 1190 beds for men, 950 beds 
for women and 880 beds for children are available for the 
anti- tuberculosis service. But the sanatoriums too are suffering 
enormously from the lack of food-stuff, above all milk, and the 
general dearth. The coast of maintenance and keep has risen to 
figures wholly out of reach of the average patient. Only the 
veterans are legally granted absolutely gratuitous treatment. 

Since the end of the war, German-Austria has been exempted 
from highly virulent epidemics. Some insulated cases of variola 
have been imported from abroad. Some months ago, the last 
cases of exanthem.ic fever had been reported. In the beginning 
of 1920, several cases of this illness were ascertained, all on 
individuals returned from Russia. In spite of the great number 
of veterans suffering from malarial fever, no endemic centre of 
this illness had developped. After all, German Austria can boast 



42 The new professional army. 

of having struggled with the best effect, among ail the succession- 
states of the ancient Austrian Empire, the epidemic deseases 
ravaging till to-day Eastern Europe. — 

THE ARMY. 

in the days of the overthrow of the Habsburg Monarchy, 
the German -Austrian Government had created in the National 
Militia a provincial armed force, destined to protect the Republic, 
to maintain the order and security in the interior and to guard 
the extremely precious properties of the ancient army and the 
public administration. The Militia was recruited partly from the 
servants of the ancient Imperial Army, partly from the employees 
and labourers of the military supply-departments and war-factories. 
Only volunteers were admitted. At the end of 1918, the Militia 
had attained a temporary strength of 1700 officers and 56.000 men. 
In order to supply the necessary factory -hands to the stagnant 
economic life and to alleviate the public expenditure, a maximum 
strength of 27.000 men (15.000 of them for Vienna and Lower- 
Austria) was settled. The reduction was to be obtained firstly 
by gradual disbandment of the smallest corps, secondly by the 
creation of efficient labour-bureaux in the cantonments and thirdly 
by dismission of less desirable troopers, crept in the rank and 
file during this troubled period. Till September 30 1919, the total 
strength of the militia had decreased to 1600 officers, 1400 non- 
commissioned officers and 26.000 men. 

The present establishment of the Austrian Army has been 
stipulated by the treaty of peace of St. Germain. Although a 
democratic militia shoud have answered better to the 
exigencies of a democratic Republic and to the wishes of 
the people, a professional army of 30.000 men was imposed 
upon the country in the instrument of peace. The number of 
commissioned officers is fixed at a twentieth, that of non-com- 
missioned officers at a fifteenth of the total number of men 
present under arms. The Army is to be employed exclusivly to 
the defence of the frontiers and to the maintenance of order in 
the interior. Conformable to these prescriptions, the National 
Assembly voted March 15, 1920 a new law relating to military 
service. The essential regulations of this law, supplemented by 
articles 79 — 81 of the constitution, are: The main functions of 



Military administration. 43 



the Army are the protection of the constitutional institutions, the 
maintenance of order and security in the country, assistance in 
general calamities and disasters, and the defence of the frontiers. 
The supreme authority over the Army vests in the National 
Assembly; the immediate control over the Army is exercised — 
subject to certain specified restrictions — by the Government 
through the competent minister. The commanding power and the 
professional training is entrusted to the military chiefs. 

The administrative and financial business of the Army is' 
dealt with in the provinces by a Military Department in the 
chief place of each province, in charge of a senior officer, sub- 
ordinated to the Minister. Each province forms a recruiting district, 
to which a maximum number of recruits is allotted: Vienna 9000, 
Lower Austria 6500, Burgenland (German Western Hungary) 1500, 
Upper Austria 4000, Styria 4000, Carinthia 1700, Salzburg 1000, 
Tyrol 1700, and Vorarlberg 600. Only Austrian citizens of male 
sex, having professed their attachment to the democratic republic, 
are entitled to the service in the Army. The term of service is 
twenty years for commissioned officers, twelfe years (with a 
minimum term of six years in the actual service with the colours) 
for non-commissioned officers and militia -men. Simultanuosly 
with the military professional training, a civic education and 
instruction in different civil professions are given. These provisions 
for the future civil life of the soldier, combined with the full 
exercise of the political rights, are intended to prevent the forming 
of that caste -feeling, otherwise unavoidable in an army of mer- 
cenaries. On the other hand, due attention is given to prevent 
all political party -strife and party -propagandism in the Army. 
In official duty, political activity is strictly forbidden. In the 
barracks, political meetings are not permitted. 

To advocate their personal interests, officers and men are 
entitled to elect delegates, authorised to cooperate in certain 
administrative and disciplinary matters, as : recruitment, food- 
supply, barrack affairs, civic education and civil instruction, 
complaints and redress of them, furloughs, disciplinary proceedings, 
dismissals. The delegates assist at the distributions of pay, victuals 
and clothing. The term of their mandate is one year. Provisions 
are made to suppress all undue influence, prejudiciable to the 
commanding power, tempted by the delegates. 



44 Present military organisation. 

The transition from the republican Militia to the new federal 
Army was performed by granting to all militia officers and men 
the free option either to enter the new army or to retire from 
military service; in this latter case they were warranted a dismission 
fee graduated after the duration of their effective service in the 
militia, running from a maximum of 1500 austr. crowns down- 
ward for privates. At the same time, new enlistments were made, 
affording, up to this day, about 13.000 men. The commissioned 
and non-commissioned officers were drawn almost exclusivly 
from the standing portion of the old Imperial Army, and chosen 
by a specially appointed council. The bodies of troops in the 
different provinces are as follows: six regiments of infantry, 
forming three brigades, in Lower Austria and Vienna, two regiments 
of Alpine-Rifles, forming one brigade, in Upper-Austria; the same 
in Styria; one regiment of Alpine-Rifles in Carinthia, another in 
Tyrol, one independent bataillon of Alpine-Rifles in Salzburg, 
another in Vorarlberg; the military forces of Carinthia, Tyrol, 
Salzburg and Vorarlberg are combined in another (sixth) brigade. 
To every brigade is attached: a bataillon of cyclists, a section 
of artillery (four batteries), a squadron of cavalry and a bataillon 
of sappers and miners. The staff of every brigade disposes also 
of a sfgnalling company, a section of motor-cars, a section of 
baggage train and an ordnance section. Independently of these 
six brigades are: a regiment of heavy artillery, forming eight 
batteries and a squadron of three patrol -boats on the Danube. 

The newly established army had already opportunity to prove 
their professional fitness as well as their spirit of sacrifice during 
the recent inundations in the Alps (summer 1920). — 

THE CONSTITUTION. - 

The most important task of the constitutive National Assembly 
was of course the making of a Constitution. But this task met 
with considerable difficulties, owing to the wide divergencies in 
the general opinions of the two great political parties constituting 
this Assembly. The Christian Social party, considering the old 
historical provinces as the primary base of the political life, wished 
to constitute those provinces as strongly and as solidly as possible, 
whereas the Socialists were penetrated with the idea of a uniform, 
centralised Commonwealth, composed of little self-governing bodies. 



The struggle for the Constitution. 45 

According to the principles exposed by Dr. Renner, chief of the 
socialistic party, the unities of self-government ought to be the 
rural or urban communities. Wherever the rural agglomerations 
would prove too small to perform successfull administrative 
work, several rural bodies ought to be united in a district muni- 
cipality. 

The Christian-Social point of view predominated eventually, 
inasmuch as the preliminary arrangements of October 1919 
established that German-Austria was to form a Federal State. 
The further controversies went about the delimitations of power 
between the Confederation, the Provinces and the Local Bodies. 
The Chancery of the State had composed not less than six different 
schemes for a constitution. But no agreement was obtainable 
within the pale of the coalition. The future constitution was first 
publicly discussed in a conference held by the representatives of 
the provinces in Salzburg about the middle of February 1920. 
There, the rough draft of a constitution, framed as a purely private 
work, by Dr. Mayer, Secretary of State, was under discussion. A 
second conference, held at Linz in the latter half of April, deli- 
berated on a new scheme, drafted by Dr. Mayer too, with due 
regard of the results of the first conference at Salzburg. The 
Socialists as well as the Pangermanists submitted schemes of 
their own, but the exhaustive debates elicited once more the wide 
differences of opinion on the most essential points. 

After the break-up of the coalition between the Christian- 
Social and the Socialistic Parties, the National Assembly was to 
be dissolved. It was doubtful wether the Assembly should disperse 
without having voted a Constitution. The Christian-Social Party 
insisted upon the urgency of such a vote before the new elections 
and succeeded in convincing the opponent parties. But their 
intentions could not be carried out thoroughly; neither the absence 
of good-will nor of application prevented the accomplishment 
of the task; but the parties did not come to an understanding 
about certain frist principles, e. g. the relations between the 
Church and the State, the Church and the School; they found 
no bridge across the abyss, separating the general views of the 
life in the christian and socialistic dogmas. The space of time 
being too short, the final settlement of those principles was 
reserved for the future Assembly. Lest this settlement might suffer 



46 Federal and provincial powers. 

undue delay, the Assembly resolved that certain indispensable 
provisions of the future constitutional law ought to be suspended 
until the vote of the above-mentioned contested parts of the 
Constitution. 

The Article First of the Federal Constitution declares : 
Austria is a democratic republic. All the rights emanate from the 
people. The law proclaims Austria a Confederation, consisting of 
independent Federal States, viz : Burgenland (German Western 
Hungary), Carinthia, Lower Austria (with Vienna), Upper Austria, 
Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The Confederation forms 
an indivisible monetary, economic and customs unity. The citi- 
zenship is vested in the Confederate States, but every citizen of 
a given State is at the same time federal citizen, enjoying the 
same rights and being liable to the same duties in all the Con- 
federate States. Privileges and prerogatives of birth, sex, station, 
rank, caste or confession are abolished. The public officers of all 
classes, the servants in the Federal Army included, enjoy inimpaired 
all civic rights. 

The constitution distinguishes between federal and provincial 
affairs. Some concerns are declared federal, in respect both of 
the legislative and the executive power, e. g. the federal consti- 
tution, foreign affairs, federal finances, money and public credit, 
civil and penal code and procedure, judicial administration, press- 
law, right of assembly, trade and industry, public communications, 
mining, public waters appartaining to or running through several 
provinces, labour questions, protection of workmen and private 
employees (with exception of those engaged in agricultural and 
forestry work), social and contract-insurance, sanitation, food- 
supply, religion, federal police and gendarmes, federal army, 
organisation and rules of order of the federal offices. — The 
legislation of the Confederation is also extended to certain other 
matters, the executive of which is abandoned to the provinces; 
to this chapter belong: citizenship and rights of domicile, personal 
papers, aliens, working-men tenements, rules of administrative 
business and procedure. In a third set of matters only the prin- 
ciples and the framing of general rules are dealt with in the 
federal legislation, the particulars, the making of by-laws and the 
executive thereof being left to the provinces, as in the internal 
administrative organisation, poor-law administration, vital statistics. 



Legislative and executive powers. 47 

medical administration, maternity, provisions for the care of infants 
and children, protection of the agricultural and forest labourers, 
landed property legislation, forestry, public works &c. 

A matter not being explicitly reserved to the legislative or 
executive power of the Confederation, belongs to the sphere of 
provincial self-government. 

The executive power in the Confederation as in the Provinces 
is vested in the mandataries of the people, appointed by the 
legislative bodies. These mandataries are: the President of the 
Confederation and the members of the government, ail elected by 
the National Assembly, viz: the Chancellor of the Confederation, 
the Vice-Chanceilor and the Secretaries of State, in the provinces, 
the Chief of the Executive Power is the Captain-General. The 
management of the executive business by the mandataries of the 
people is under the control of the deputies having elected them; 
for all offences of commission or omission, the mandataries of 
the people are responsible before the Administrative High-Court. 
All the officers, employed in federal, provincial or municipal 
administrative or judicial service, are liable for damages caused 
by intentional or negligent breach of duties. 

The federal government or the single competent minister 
shall- be dismissed after a vote of censure by the National 
Assembly against the whole government or against that minister. 

The legislative power of the Confederation is exercised by 
the National Assembly conjointly with the Federal Assembly. The 
former is elected by the people on the principles of the universal, 
direct, secret and personal suffrage of both men and women, aged 
twenty years on the first of January of the year of election. The 
deputi'es are elected on the principle of proportional representation 
for a legislative period of four years. The members of the Federal 
Assembly are elected by the Diets, also on proportional principles. 
The political party, second in strength in the diet, is entitled to 
one mandate at least in the Federal Assembly. The provinces 
are represented proportionally to the number of their population; 
no province can claim to more than twelve, or can fall short of 
three members. 

For the election of the President of the Confederation or for 
the declaration of war, the National and Federal Assemblies 
gather in public meeting. Are eligible President of the Confede- 



48 Legislative bodies. 



ration any persons entitled to vote at the legislative elections 
and aged thirty-five years. Members of families reigning or having 
reigned are ineligible. The office of the President of the Con- 
federation is for a period of four years; a reelection for a second 
subsequent term of four years is admitted only once. The President 
represents the Republic abroad and signs the treaties with foreign 
powers. He authenticates by his signature the constitutional ■ 
validity of any legislative act. He exercises the right of granting 
pardons. All presidential acts are issued in consequence of a 
proposition of the federal Government and are countersigned by 
the Chancellor or a Minister. 

Bills are carried through the National Assembly either by one 
of its members or as governmental bills. The Federal Assembly 
is authorised to propose bills in the National Assembly trough 
the medium of the Government. A popular will expressed by 
200000 electors or by the half of the total number of electors of 
three provinces must be submitted to Parliament by the Federal 
Government. Bills brought before the National Assembly must 
pass trough a plebiscite before being enacted, if such a wish is 
voted by that body. In like manner, any essential alteration of 
the federal constitution is subjected to a plebiscite; the same 
proceedings are prescribed also for any partial or accessory 
alteration of the Constitution, if so wished by the majority of the 
National Assembly. 

The Federal Assembly is concerned in legislative matters in 
so far as every resolution of the National Assembly must be 
communicated to the other Assembly before being authenticated 
and issued. The Federal Assembly is authorised to refuse assent 
within two months. The refusal becomes inoperative, if the National 
Assembly reiterates the vote in presence of the moiety of the 
members at least. In most of the financial matters, as: the annual 
budget, balance of accounts, contracts or conversions of public 
loans, disposal of federal property, the Federal Assembly is 
not intitled to opposition. 

The legislative power of the provinces is vested in the diets, 
elected after the same manner as the National Assembly. Against 
provincial legislation, prejudicial to federal interests, the National 
Assembly can object within two months. The provincial bill passes 
law, if the Diet reiterates the vote in presence of the moiety of 



Provincial and local authorities. 49 

the members, the Federal Government being authorised to appeal 
against a provincial law, judged inconstitutional, to the Supreme 
Court. This tribunal is competent judge also in appeals of the 
provinces against federal legislation. 

The provincial executive power is exercised by the Provincial 
Government. Federal matters are dealt with in the provinces 
partly by special federal authorities (immediate federal admini- 
stration), partly by provincial authorities (delegated or derivated 
administration). 

The local administration is based upon the principle of self- 
government. For general administrative purposes, the provinces 
are divided in district communities, the districts in rural and urban 
communities. Urban agglomerations of more than 20.000 inhabitants 
are constituted, at request, as districts. All those communities are 
just as many independent economic bodies, empowered to acquire, 
possess and alienate property of all kind, to manage economical 
enterprises and to levy duties, rates and excises. The representative 
local bodies are elected after the manner in operation at the 
national elections. The headman of a district community must be 
a lawyer. The old administrative apparatus of the districts continues 
to work until the new schemes will be in full working order, 
but at the chief place of every old district, an elected controlling 
body is placed by the side of the chief administrative officer. 

The regulations concerning the delimitations of power between 
the Confederation and the provinces will remain inoperative till 
the enactment of the following legislative drafts: law for the 
financial arrangement between the Confederation and the Pro- 
vinces, Districts and Communities, law for the sphere of federal 
action in scolar and educational matters, and finally, law for the 
establishment of the general administative service in the provinces. 

THE PRISONERS OF WAR. 

The Austrian authorities considered as one of their most 
urgent duties the delivery of the prisoners of war. These most 
pitiable victims of the great struggle, some hundreds of thousand 
in number, were languishing in captivity mostly since the first 
months of the war. The Austrian Government spared no trouble 
or expenses and recoiled from no accomodations in the negociations 
with the ci-devant enemies, in view of the prompt saving of 



50 Rescue of the prisoners of war. 

the prisoners from a certain death. Effectivly, the "Commission 
for the rescue of prisoners of war and civil prisoners", nominated 
by the Austrian Government, succeeded in obtaining, even before 
the conclusion of the peace, the repatriation of the Austrian 
prisoners of war from Italy. At the end of 1919, about 80.000 
Austrians were thus repatriated. The home-journey of the prisoners 
of war from England had begun in October 1919, from France 
January 1920. In the spring of 1920, thanks to the indefatigable 
excertions of the Secretary of the Danish Red-Cross, Mr. Wahl-Bau, 
the prisoners of war in Serbian captivity were released. Shortly 
afterwards, the prisoners retained in the Near -East after the 
collapse, later on those in Japan and most of the civil persons 
confined in China were sent home. More than 150.000 prisoners 
had been rendered to liberty by these excertions. There remained 
only in Russia, Siberia and Turkistan a considerable number of 
prisoners of war. At the beginning of the functions of the Prisoners- 
Commission, Russia was surrounded on all sides by enemies 
in arms. The scheme of establishing safe lines of communication, 
utilisable for the homeward journey of the Austrian prisoners, 
proved impracticable. In vain, the Austrian Government dispatched, 
by radiotelegraphy, urgent requests to the Soviets at Moscow to 
let pass to Russia an Austrian delegation for the rescue of the 
Austrian prisoners of war; similar requests presented in Paris 
had no better success. The Prisoners -Commission tried now 
illegal expedients to carry out their task. Mr. Wagner, member 
of the Commission and influential partisan of the communistic 
party of Vienna, succeeded in reaching Moscow and to persuade 
Mr. Tchitcherin, commissary of the people for foreign affairs. 
By this way, Mr. Mayerhoefer, legal chief of the Prisoners-Com- 
mission, obtained leave to enter Russia, but only to treat the 
admission of an Austrian Committee for the rescue of the prisoners 
of war. It was not before February 1920 that Mr. Mayerhoefer 
reached Moscow; during a very long space of time, no news 
were heard in Austria from that official, although he had used 
freely the Russian radiotelegraphy. 

March 1920, the International Leage of the Red Cross 
assembled in Geneva. The president of the Austrian Prisoners- 
Commission was admitted there and succeeded to move an urgent 
proposal about the question of the release of the prisoners of war. 



War- prisoners in Russia. 5] 

The motion was carried and the Assembly voted the resolution 
that "the rescue of the prisoners of war be declared the first 
duty of mankind, incumbent now to the Leage of Nations", and 
all the Societies of the Red Cross, represented at the Assembly, 
numbering twenty-seven, pledged themselves to use their authority 
on their Governments to promote these views. 

After this Assembly, the Conference of the Ambassadors in 
Paris notified to the Austrian Government that no obstacles would 
be put in the way of the rescue of the Austrian prisoners of war, 
in the assumption that the necessary expenditure would be 
defrayed exclusively by Austria. The Leage of Nations com- 
missioned Mr. Fridthiof Nansen with the mandate of preparing 
a general scheme for the delivery of the prisoners of war. 

In the mean-time, deliberations had begun in Berlin between 
Germany and Russia about the exchange of the prisoners of war. 
The Vice-President of the Austrian Commission went to Berlin 
to treat with Mr. Kopp, delegate of the Russian Soviets. March 15, 
the Chancellor of the State, Dr. Renner, informed the representatives 
of the Entente in Vienna about these negociations, interrupted 
only temporarily by the riot of Mr. Kapp in Berlin, resumed in 
May and terminated by the Convention of Copenhague, the context 
of which hereafter: 

CONVENTION CONCERNING THE EXCHANGE OF THE 
PRISONERS OF WAR, 

ratified by tlie Soviet Government July 9 and by tlie Austrian 
Government July 14, 1920. 

The Government of the Socialist Soviet -Republic of 
Russia and Ukraine, represented by Mr. Maxime Litwinow, 
delegate of the Council of Commissaries of the people on 
the one hand, and the Government of the Austrian Republic, 
represented by Mr. Paul Richter, deputy and Vice-President 
of the Commission for the rescue of prisoners of war on 
the other hand, endeavouring to promote by all possible 
means the exchange of the said prisoners, have concluded 
to-day the following Convention: 

§l.The contracting parties pledge themselves to send 
home, by using all means of communication at their com- 

4* 



52 Convention of Copenhague. 

mand, all the prisoners of war and interned civil persons, 
without distinction of grade, station or rank (soldiers, non- 
commissioned, warrant and commissioned officers, medical 
officers and sanitary employees, military and civil officials &c.). 
This mutual obligation shall be considered as accomplished 
in the moment of transmitting the said prisoners to the 
representatives of their respective authorities at the actual 
frontier- station of Narva (Esthonia). The two Governments 
reserve themselves the right of proposing, if necessary, other 
places of exchange. The two contracting parties agree in 
maintaining the principle that no prisoner of war or interned 
civil person can be exchanged by force after having declared 
that he will continue his sojourn in the country where he 
has been since detained. 

§ 2. For safeguarding the interests of the civil and 
military prisoners, a representative is admitted at the seat 
of Government of both contracting parties. In order to 
accomplish thoroughly his duties, this representative shall 
enjoy all the prerogatives of exterritoriality, including the 
right of using freely the radiotelegraphic communications 
with his Government. For administrative and technical matters, 
the representatives shall be allowed to attach to themselves 
five assistants to the utmost, medical officers included. Both 
Governments grant to those persons free admission in their 
territories. 

§ 3. The Austrian Government shall be obliged to keep 
a strict neutrality in the wars Russia might be engaged in. 
Austria shall prohibit absolutely in her territories all supply 
or transport of arms, ammunitions and requisites of war 
destined for the ennemies of Russia. 

§ 4. The Austrian Government grants personal liberty- 
to the commissaries of the Hungarian people, ex-members 
of the revolutionary Government of Hungary and shall facilitate 
their departure for Russia by all available means. 

§ 5. The representatives mentioned in § 2 are authorised 
in a formal manner to enter in negociations about the 
resumption of commercial intercourse between the two 
countries. 



Conflict with the Comm. of Rep. 53 

§ 6. The Convention takes effect on the day of the 
signature. 

Copenhague, July 5, 1920. 
For the Government of Russia For the Austrian Government : 
and Ukraine: Paul Richter. 

Maxim e Litwinow. 

July 17, the Secretary of State for foreign affairs received a 
radiotelegraphic message from Moscow in which Mr. Tchitcherin 
declared that the repatriation of the Austrian prisoners of war 
from Russia should be henceforward quite unhindered. In the 
same dispatch, Mr. Tchitcherin begged the Austrian Government 
to accelerate the home bound -journey of the Russian prisoners. 

The Commission for Reparations demurred to the dispositions 
of this treaty concerning the use of radiotelegraphic communications, 
granted to the two representatives of the prisoners of war, and 
interrupted the service of credits devoted to the exchange of 
prisoners. The Austrian Government having cancelled the questioned 
dispositions as contrary to the treaty of peace, the service of 
credits was reassumed Septembers. Later on, September 11, the 
Commission for Reparations agreed the proposals of the Austrian 
Section about the above-named credits in accordance with the 
stipulations of Copenhague. September 11, Mr. Otto Pohl, head 
of the Austrian mission to Russia, leaved for Moscow. 

The convention with Russia was no labour in vain; ere long, 
the number of repatriated Austrians had augmented considerably. 
Whilst during the interval between January to June, only 2565 pri- 
soners had returned, the number of prisoners sent back from 
Russia rose to 13.400 till the end of the year. In European Russia 
there are now, generally speaking, no Austrian prisoners at all. 
It is to be hoped that within the first half of 1921, the Austrian 
prisoners retained in Siberia and Turkistan, calculated at less 
than 10.000, will be all saved. 

FOREIGN POLITICS. 

PROMISES OF HELP. 

After having created the Austrian Republic, determined its 
present frontier lines and prohibited its union with Germany, the 
Entente Powers did not ignore the fact that they had assumed 
the moral responsibility of maintaining the vital interests of this 



54 Promises of help. 



mis-shapen creature and of securing the peace and tranquillity 
of Central-Europe, seriously endangered by any political upheaval 
in this State, situated in the very heart of Europe. 

As a matter of fact, the Vlil"" chapter of the peace instrument, 
dealing with the obligations incumbent on Austria on behalf of 
the reparations and with the task of the Commission for Reparations, 
speaks, in article 182, of the amount of victuals and raw materials 
judged indispensable by the Allied Powers to enable Austria to 
fulfill her duties of reparations. 

In the annex to the peace-instrument, dated September 2, 
1919, formal promises are made: "The allied and associated 
Governments are nevertheless not animated by the wish to 
aggravate the painfull situation of Austria, on the contrary, they 
wish heartily to see employed all means proper to help Austria 
in her efforts to restore her ancient prosperity". 

"Adequate measures wjll be taken in order to offer Austria 
the necessary quantity of coal from Czecho-Slovakia and Poland 
under the restriction of a warranted delivery of certain manufac- 
tured goods from Austria to the above-named States". 

"The Commission for Reparations is instructed to discharge 
their duty in an essentially humanitarian sense. They will take in 
consideration the needs of the whole Austrian people and will 
grant all facilities necessitated by the precarious alimentation of 
Austria". 

THE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE REPARATIONS- 
COMMISSION. 

Immediately after the signature of the peace instrument, the 
food-supply of Austria was in a most critical state. Numerous 
requests c)f the Chancellor of State, directed to the Supreme 
Council in Paris, resulted eventually in the nomination of a Sub- 
Committee of the Reparation-Commission, residing in Vienna and 
constituted August 7, 1919. The Committee was charged with 
the inquiries into the causes and effects of the alimentary crisis 
of Austria and to submit proposals to the Commission. Starting 
from the conviction that the lack of coal, the prime cause of all 
the miseries of Central-Europe, was the effect of the defective 
state of the rolling railway-material, the Committee insisted on 



The Coal-Commission and Experts-Commission. 55 

the prompt convocation of the Experts-Commission, anticipated 
by article 318 of the treaty of peace. Both Coal-and Experts- 
Commission gathered in October 1919. 

Without delay, the Sub-Committee for Austria held conferences 
with the representatives of Vienna and the provinces and addressed 
urgent requests to the Czecho-Siovak and Yougo-Slav Govern- 
ments to fulfill the compacts made with Austria concerning the 
delivery of coal and victuals. The Sub-Committe were also busy 
in arranging conferences between the delegates of these three 
countries. Representatives of the Austrian industry and banking 
syndicates were heard in order to elucidate the opinions about 
the needs of Austria. November 7, the Sub-Committee informed 
the Chancellor of State,, that the allied Governments had been 
acquainted with the stringent urgency of efficient help in coal 
and provisions. 

The Experts-Commission too assembled immediately after 
their arrival in Vienna. The Austrian delegates declared that the 
passengers' traffic had declined to 17% of the pre-war figures 
and that the merchandise-traffic was reduced to coal, coke, benzine, 
industrial alcool, carbid of calcium and explosives for mining 
purposes exclusively. The suppression of express-trains was 
imminent. 

In the meanwhile, the alimentary situation had become 
a catastrophe; the flour and bread rations had been reduced 
energetically and the total lack of coal had necessitated a complet 
standstill in the railway-traffic in the last weeks of 1919. 

THE CHANCELLOR OF STATE'S VOYAGE TO PARIS. 

At the second anniversary of its existence, the Austrian Republic 
was threatened with a real famine, aggravated by a complete 
lack of fuel. The Entente-supplies in provisions, having assured 
a scanty alimentation until the new harvest, had been interrupted. 
The national harvest was sufficient hardly for three months, under 
the presupposition that the entire amount, calculated at 180.000 
tons, would be delivered to consumption; but in December, only 
one third of this quantity had been delivered effectually. In spite 
of the end of the authorities, the alimentary situation was, 
at the end of 1919, fare worse than at the most critical moments 
of the downbreak of the old Empire. Repeatedly, the Vienna 



56 Famine at the end of 1919. 

Municipality had only two or three days provision at their com- 
mand and was obliged to reduce the war- and famine-rations of 
flour to another half. The final bankruptcy of the entire official 
alimentary service seemed imminent. 

Germany had declared ready to assist her starving brothers in 
Austria, in spite of her own pressing needs. By effecting a general 
reduction of 50 grammes in each daily ration of flour, Germany 
had spared 8000 tons of flour which were sent to Austria in 
December. But in the long run, it proved impossible to feed the 
whole population of a State by the crumbs from the table 
of a neighbour. In order to secure at least a trifling supply 
of victuals till October 1920, Austria would have been 
obliged to spend hundred millions of dollars. Nobody could 
be astonished by the fact that the Austrian people, the most 
patient and submissive one of all, having gone unshaken through 
six years of dearth, famine, cold and all horrors of war, was 
eventually exhausted and had lost their nerves. Several times, 
riots broke out spontanously in the larger towns, occasioned by 
sheer want of food-stuffs and fuel. Coal having entirely disap- 
peared, and wood, albeit not far from town, not having been trans- 
ported to market by railway for want of coal, the townspeople 
went in scores and hundreds of scores to the forests in order to 
fetch a miserably earned handful of wood. In this manner, the 
celebrated forest of Wienerwald was devastated to a most deplo- 
rable extent. Not only the granaries, but also the public treasury 
were exhausted. The budgetary deficit had risen to 8 milliards 
of kronen. The fiduciary currency had fallen to a thirtieth of its 
original value. The Government had in view to decline publicly 
any responsability, if not supported by the Supreme Council. In 
order to arouse the feelings of Western - Europe, the Austrian 
Government communicated, trough the medium of their represen- 
tative in Paris, the wish to send the Chancellor of State to Paris, 
that he might be allowed to make, verbally and immediately, a 
true picture of the intolerable conditions under which the Austrian 
people was obliged to suffer. December 9, 1919, the Chancellor 
of State, accompanied by the State-Secretaries of Finance, appro- 
visions, communications and commerce, went to Paris. Dr. Renner, 
in moving words, made a vivid picture of the despairing 
state of Austrian affairs before the Supreme Council and 



Results of Dr. Renner's Voyage. 57 

the Reparations-Commission, and urged the realisation of the 
promises of help, given to his unlucky country in the treaty of 
peace. The immediate help, in the view of Dr. Renner, should be 
given in the shape of: P' the lease of all provisions, shipped 
for or arrived in Europe, attainable in any harbour of Europe, 
to enable the Austrian Government to distribute the minima- 
rations of flour during the next two months; these provisions 
should be given to Austria in the form of advances, 2'' loans in 
money to warrant the regular food-supply for Austria for a 
twelvemonth, 3'" credits in raw materials to restart the broken- 
down Austrian industry; 4"' removal of the mortgage-rights 
instituted in favour of the Allied States, in order to enable Austria 
to procure the necassary foreign values. 

The Supreme Council resolved upon these requests: P' : The 
30.000 tons of grain, stored in the docks of Trieste, shall be 
forwarded immediately to Austria; 2^ the allied Powers will accord 
to Yougo-Slavia an advance in order to supply provisions to 
Austria; 3"^ a decision will be taken in the shortest possible time 
about the withdrawal of mortgage -rights instituted by the treaty 
of peace upon Austrian public and private property in favour of 
the reparations; 4"' the Supreme Council agrees to the proposed 
alienation of the Tobacco -monopoly, and 5"' the reparations- 
commission shall examine, without delay, the detailed proposals 
of the State-Secretary of approvisions about the scheme of a 
definite programme for the food-supply in the next ten months- 
period. 

The most ardent hope of the Austrian people, viz. the granting 
of a great loan, had not yet been realised, the Supreme Council 
having been convinced that a final settlement of this question 
was not possible without the collaboration of America. 

Therefore, the Chancellor of State had come back from Paris 
with the prospect of a momentary alleviation, but not with the 
expected effectual and lasting remedy. The Austrian Government 
postponed a new demarche at a later date. 

THE SECRETARIES OF STATE OF FINANCE AND 
APPROVISIONS IN PARIS. 

February 3, the State-Secretaries of finance and approvisions 
went to Paris in order to obtain a fresh help from the Entente. 



58 Austrian Secretaries of State in Paris. 

The State-Secretary of finance explained before the Conference 
of Ambassadors that the time of makeshifts was past; the unique 
remedy was, in his views, a lasting support of the Austrian 
people, enabling them to maintain themselves, in the long run, 
by their proper exertions. Therefore, he insisted upon the necessity 
of a loan for long periods for the restablishment of Austria's 
economic life. For securing the interests- and sinking fund- 
payments of this loan, he offered the assignment of the mort- 
gage-rights on Austrian property instituted by the treaty of peace. 
An Austrian Section of the Reparations Commission ought to be 
instituted even before the ratification of the peace, in order to 
control the management and einployment of this loan. This Section 
were to be commissioned to establish, with the cooperation of 
the Austrian Government, an exhaustive programme for the recovery 
of Austria, enabling this State to perforin by its proper means 
the duties imposed by the treaty of St. Germain. 

In the meeting of the Organisation Committee of the Com- 
mission for Reparations, held February 14, the representative of 
the United States coinmunicated a motion put in the Senate of 
Washington for the purpose of a loan of 50 millions of dollars 
to the most destitute European States, first and foremost to Austria. 
The representative of Great-Britain declared in the name of his 
Government, that England would join this step with a loan of 
25 millions of dollars, in fact, the Senate of Washington had 
authorised, on the proposal of Mr. Hoover, the United States 
Grain Corporation to offer to Austria an advance sufficient to buy 
200.000 tons of grain. The British Government declared its 
willingness to place at Austria's disposal the required tonnage 
for shipping this grain to Trieste and to defray the transport costs. 

THE AUSTRIAN SECTION OF THE REPARATIONS- 
COMMISSION. 

March 10, the Reparations-Commission resolved the formation 
of an Austrian Section without awaiting the ratification of the peace. 

In a dispatch, dated April 17, the Commission approved the 
willingness of Austria to accomplish the conditions of the treaty 
of St. Germain concerning the reparations and the liquidation of 
the Bank of Austria-Hungary before the ratification of the instru- 
ment of peace. 



Note of March 13, 1920. 59 



A sensible alleviation of the burden of these above-named 
conditions had been granted Austria by a dispatch from the 
Organisation-Committee, dated March 13, to the effect that: 
"Considering the urgent want of victuals and raw materials 
Austria is suffering and in view of encouraging the private 
initiative to restore the ancient prosperity, the Organisation- 
Committee has resolved to disengage the private property in 
Austria from the mortgage-bond imposed by the treaty of peace 
in favour of the Allied and Associated Powers, and to relinquish 
the Austrian private property in neutral countries, consisting 
either in neutral values or others in order to employ them for 
the purchase of provisions or raw-materials for Austria". 

May 21, the Austrian Section sent the following note to the 
Austrian Government: 

I. 

On the strength of full powers from the Reparations Com- 
mission, Austria will be intitled, in virtue of instructions of the 
said Commission and under the control and with the consent of the 
Austrian Section to issue treasury-bills, as a guarantee whereof 
shall be instituted, conformable to article 197, in the first place 
the entire property and the intire public income of Austria. This 
guarantee shall precede all reparations imposed by the Treaty of 
St. Germain and all other obligations imposed by treaties, con- 
ventions or other agreements made between Austria and the 
allied and associated Powers at the armistice of November 3, 
1918, without prejudice to similar dispositions of other conven- 
tions or protocols in operation. 

a) A portion of these treasury-bills shall be forwarded by 
the Austrian Government to the allied, associated or neutral 
Powers having yet granted credits for food-supplies since 
november 3, 1918. The nominal amount of these bills shall be 
equal to the credits and loans allowed; these bills shall be for- 
warded under the condition of remitting to Austria all papers 
containing obligations or liabilities of Austria and all Austrian 
assets or guarantees. 

b) a second portion of the treasury-bills shall be remitted 
to the allied, associated and neutral Governments for future 
credits and advances, according to the amount of these credits 
effectively made. 



60 Note of May 21, 1920. 



c) the Austrian Government will be entitled to emit, from 
time to time, another portion of these treasury-bills of an amount 
corresponding to new advances or credits allowed by the Repa- 
ration Commission. The privilege, guaranteed to the present loans, 
will be extended to the future ones after due deliberation by the 
said Commission. 

d) the treasury-bills shall be united in one single series; the 
amount shall be redeemable in the currency of the creditor's 
country, unless stipulated in other currency for the preceding 
credits. The bills shall bear six percents of insterests. 

e) the Austrian assets, delivered in virtue of alinea a) shall 
remain under the control of the Austrian Section. 

If disired by the Commission of Reparations, monopolies, 
works of art, the property of the former Imperial Family at the 
command of the Austrian Government and available Austrian 
capital shall be under control and administration of the Austrian 
Section, according to their availability, in order to secure for 
Austria the delivery of the necessary amount of food-stuffs, fuel 
and raw materials in virtue of article 181 of the Treaty of 
St. Germain, and to determine the obligations incumbent to Austria 
in this respect. 

11. 

The Austrian Government shall assume the following liabilities 
towards the Austrian Section : 

a) not to sell, transmit or alienate otherwise public property of 
the State, provinces or municipalities, or public concessions, 
privileges or monopolies but with the consent of the said Austrian 
Section and to invalidate such alienations made since the armistice 
of November 3, 1918, if required by the Austrian Section. 

b) to move in Parliament bills proposed by the Austrian 
Section, concerning the sale or other alienations in foreign 
countries of Austrian private property or all other property not 
mentioned in the previous alinea. The same shall be the case 
with concessions granted or monopolies sold in foreign countries. 
The Austrian Section will make such proposals only if suchlike 
alienations are proper to be detrimental to the reparations incumbent 
on Austria. Bills carried through Parliament ought to be altered 
or abolished if necessary. 



The answer of the Austrian Government. 61 

c) to abstain in the future from conventions concerning the 
delivery or exportation of public papers, documents, objects or 
materials mentioned in Section 2, part VIII of the treaty of peace, 
without the consent of the Austrian Section. 

111. 

The said Austrian Section shall assume or control, in virtue 
of the instructions received from the Commission of Reparation 
and in the measure of advisability, the collection of imposts, 
taxes, duties and other revenues of the Austrian Government as 
well as the expenditure of these revenues, if necessary; the Section 
shall admonish the Austrian Government in order to enforce the 
most stringent economy in public expenditure. 

IV. 

The Austrian Section shall henceforward make the necessary 
inquiries into the economic and financial situation of Austria and 
establish a genera! scheme for her reconstruction, in order to 
secure the reparations incumbent on Austria. 

The Austrian Government answered by the following dispatch, 
dated June 12, 1920: 

"The Austrian Government recieved the dispatch, the Austrian 
Section of the Commission for Reparations had addressed to the 
Austrian Plenipotentiary in Paris, Mr. Eichhoff. The Austrian 
Government acknowledges with gratitude, that the said Section 
will assume the task of establishing and executing a general 
scheme for the economic reconstruction of Austria. The Govern- 
ment will be pleased to contribute, conjointly with the people, 
to the accomplishment of this task. 

"The Austrian Government shall make use of the offer to emit 
treasury bills under the conditions enumerated in the dispatch 
and will remit them to the Governments disposed to grant credits 
to Austria, after due deliberation with the Austrian Section. 

"The Austrian Government is unable to make objections against 
the obligations enforced upon Austria and against the control 
and powers conferred to authorities instituted by the Treaty of 
Peace. The Government is convinced that the Commission, in 
the exercise of those rights, will respect our political sovereignty 
and will not make use of these rights but in the measure of 
stringent necessity. The Austrian Government shall make all 
exertions to satisfy the Commission. 



62 Sir W. Goode and Mr. Seitz. 

"About some points the bearing of wliich the Austrian Govern- 
ment did not fully grasp by the wording of the dispatch, oral 
deliberations shall be held after the arrival of the Austrian Section 
in Vienna." 

July 13, the members of the Austrian Section presented 
themselves to Mr. Seitz, President of the Austrian Republic. 
Sir W. Goode, president of the Section, introduced to Mr. Seitz 
the delegates of the nine principal Powers, represented in the 
Section (Great-Britain, Italy, France, United States, Greece, Poland, 
Roumania, Yougoslavia and Czecho- Slovakia) and said that the 
Section was about to engage in the preliminary work. The Com- 
mission for Reparations had charged the Austrian Section, along 
with certain executive powers, with the mission to elaborate 
proposals about all questions concerning the execution of the 
treaty of St. Germain. Moreover, the Section had full powers of 
all the States having yet granted loans or advances for the 
restablishment of Austria or being disposed to grant such loans 
in the future. After having alluded to the proposals of the note 
of May 21, Sir W. Goode reminded Mr. Seitz of the assistance 
the Allied and Associated Powers had given Austria in her most 
critical hours. Since the first meeting, the main care of the Section 
was the realisation of the advances destined to remedy Austria's 
misery. But in order to enable the Section to do useful work in 
the regeneration of Austria, it would be necessary to unite the 
Government and the people of Austria in the common endeavour 
to accomplish loyally and scrupulously, using all available forces 
and energies, the duties imposed by the Treaty of Peace and 
to make all possible efforts to maintain the public order. 

In answering this address, the President of the Republic said: 
Austria had resolutely and unreservedly submitted under the 
conditions of the Treaty of Peace; she will hold her promises 
loyally. She wishes sincerely to keep all the obligations, in order 
to put an end to the general insecurity. The Austrian Government 
had declared itself ready to accept the propositions tendered in 
the dispatch of May 21, and had not petitioned for negociations 
but in or'der to know wether the public administration, 
fettered already beyond measure by the pressure of needs 
of all kind, would not be entirely paralyzed by the new 
measures. 



Ratification of the Treaty of St. Germain. 63 

The Treaty of St. Germain gained legal power by the exchange 
of the ratification instruments. At this juncture, M. Cambon insisted 
also on the necessity of a concientions accomplishment of all 
the duties imposed upon Austria, but reiterated the formal promises 
of the Allied Powers to support generously Austria in her efforts 
to regeneration. 

July 24, the representatives of the three Principal Powers 
(Great -Britain, France, Italy) remitted their credentials to the 
President of the National Assembly. 

The control over the financial gestion of Austria in general 
and the safeguarding of the interests of the Creditor States, vested 
in the Reparations -Commission, was exercised thoroughly and 
unrelentingly by the Austrian Section of this Commission. This 
control was felt most sensibly, inter alia, during the debates 
concerning the capital-levy. The dispatch dated August 25, about 
the delivery of cattle and furniture proves that the Allied States 
had not yet renounced their rights, stipulated in the Peace Treaty; 
another fact of this state of mind is given by the temporary 
arrest of the loans granted to secure the repatriation of war 
prisoners, after the conclusion of the accord of Copenhague. 
On the other hand, the Reparations -Commission continued to 
lessen in some points the burden of Austria; August 24, the 
Commission declared that the raw materials imported to Austria 
in order to be manufactured there, and the corresponding manu- 
factured articles should be free from the general mortgage in 
order to enable Austria to entertain this immediate exchange 
between raw materials imported and manufactured goods exported. 

In order to alleviate the existing difficulties and controversies 
between Austria and the other successional States of the Empire, 
the Reparations -Commission recommended to all Governments 
concerned the convocation of a special Conference, without delay, 
for the purpose of an exhaustive discussion about the means 
available for a settlement of commercial intercourse and the 
suppression of all undue prohibition of free communication. But 
the first duty of the Austrian Section seemed always to be the 
elaboration of a rational programme for the economic restablish- 
ment of Austria. The Section elaborated a substancial and bulky 
Aide-memoire, containing several propositions for a general scheme 
of reconstruction and submitted it to the Commission in Paris. 



64 The Army-Control-Comniittee. 

But this scheme of reconstruction seems to be never realised 
without the help of large credits and the warrant of uninterrupted 
supply of coal in sufficient quantities. 

Austria had hailed the arrival of the Austrian Section in 
Vienna with enthousiastic cries of joy ; in their misery, the Austrians 
had anticipated a new era of prosperity and never doubted an 
instant that the Austrian Section must be the panacee, able and 
willing to heal the mortal wounds of the terrible war. 

The dispatch of May 21 desabused cruelly the credulous 
Austrians ; it did not only refuse the help Austria had longed for, 
but remembered Austria the fact that the Commission had been 
established in the shape of a real sovereign ruler over the country. 
During the next months, seeing always postponed the promised 
credits and the public affairs running, with accelerated speed, 
to thf unavoidable abyss, the Austrians were all the more inclined 
to ascribe all the responsabilities to the Austrian Section, in 
spite of their praiseworthy efforts to support Austria. 

THE INTERALLIED CONTROL- COMMITTEES. 

During the first part of 1920, the Principal Powers were 
represented in Vienna, conformable to the Armistice, by Military 
Missions. In March, the arrival in Vienna of the first party of 
the Control -Committees was reported. Three commissions, for 
Army, Navy and Aerial forces were to be constituted. The Peace- 
Treaty having not yet been ratified, the anticipated arrival in 
Vienna of these Committees was not justified but in order to 
accelerate the preliminary work of the Control -Committee. 

The first party of the Army -Committee opened business 
mid-April, the second one mid-July. The Committee concentrated 
their efforts in the dissolution of the old Imperial Army, the 
organisation of the new Militia, the military and civil police-forces 
and the legislative and administrative measures concerning the 
military stores and the disposal boards. Afterwards, thew new 
Militia was the principal matter of interest for the Committee; 
the military establishments and the civil factories working on 
purchased military goods were inspected. Public opinion was 
soon convinced about the fact that the Committee was discharging 
its duties and interpreting the prescriptions of the Peace Treaty 



Naval Control-Committee. 65 



about armament, ammunitions and war-material in a most critical 
and illiberal way. The Committee was inclined to stop the free 
disposal of these materials even before the ratification or to 
submit any disposal thereof to the preliminary permission of the 
Committee. This interpretation, contrary to both the letter and 
the spirit of the armistice, compromised seriously the interests 
of the national industry; the Austrian Government succeeded in 
stopping the control until the moment the Peace Treaty had 
gained legal force. 

In the same manner, the Control-Committe interfered often 
in the making and application of the law on military service, voted 
March 1920, and in the organisation of the new Militia, although both 
legislative and executive Powers had made their utmost effort to 
accord the new law with the provisions of the Peace-Treaty. But 
the most serious difficulties arose from the management of 
business in matters concerning the war-material, these matters 
hitting the very heart of industrial life in Austria and crippling 
the free exercise of industrial and commercial activity. The man 
in the street, ignoring all about the minute details of the dispo- 
sitions of the Treaty, was all too quick in considering the whole 
business of the Control-Committee in the light of a gratuitous 
^nd deliberated vexation. On the other hand, certain provisions 
of the Treaty could not, even with all possible good will, carried 
through within the prescribed terms. 

The first party of the Naval Committee convened in Vienna 
March 9. It was first occupied in dressing the inventory of the 
naval materials and visited, to this effect, a certain number of 
, private establishments. This Committee was soon convinced of 
the fact that nowhere naval material was worked upon and all 
factories concerned had been already transformed or were about 
to finish their transformations for civil purposes. A few armour 
plates at Linz and some wooden carcasses destined for the con- 
struction of boats were the only objects destroyed by order of 
the Naval-Committee. In July, all persons concerned agreed that 
the first party, containing four Admirals and eight Superior navy- 
officers, not to speak of the numerous auxiliary personnel, had 
nothing more to do in Austria. To the general astonishment, the 
second party arrived in Vienna July 27. Considering the scanty 
naval material, the very existence of a Naval Committee seemed 



66 Aerial Control-Committee. 

to be a mere matter of form. The Chairman himself, Admiral 
Cagni, seemed to accelerate a prompt removal of the Plenary 
Commission from Vienna, causing enormous charges on the public 
expenditure. In fact, the Naval Committee leaved Vienna August 1 1 

The first party of the Aerial Committee arrived in Vienna 
mid-April, the remainder in July. Austria not being allowed by 
the Treaty of Peace to entertain any air-craft, neither military 
nor civil, the business of this Committee is restricted to the 
control of destruction and disposal of aerial material and the 
dissolution of the military aerial unities. The exercise of the first 
named functions was even more detrimental to the interests of 
national industry than the activity of the Army Committee. 

According to the statements made by the President of the 
Plenary Control Commission, the expenditure of the Army branch was 
981.650 francs, that of the aerial branch 255.000 francs, making up a 
total of 1 ,236.650 francs monthly,*) equivalent to the moiety of the total 
military expenditure of Austria. This appalling burden has generated 
the legitime wish to see reduced the persounel and the expenditure 
of the Committee to a more rational limit, the much more so as 
the work of the Committee seems to be almost finished, thanks 
to the cooperation of both Government and people of Austria in 
order to accomplish strictly and xoncientiously the provisions of 
the Peace-Treaty. 

THE ADMISSION TO THE LEAGE OF NATIONS. 

Since its first appearance, the idea of the Leage of Nations 
was enthousiastically hailed by the Austrian people. The Austriaa 
policy, tending to the maintenance of peace, to reconciliation and 
a renewal of civilisation, had been declared as identical with 
the aims of the Leage by her first Chancellor of State. 

The financial conference held at Brussels afforded to Austria 
the first opportunity of cooperating, under the auspices of the 
Leage of Nations, in an international concern, side by side with her 
foes of yesterday. All parties declared unanimously the enormous 



*) The budget for the financial year of 1921 provides for the Commission 
of Reparation 7.5 millions of kronen (gold) equal to 975 millions kronen, 
for the Danube-Commission 150.000 french francs, equal to 5.85 millions 
kronen. 



Admission to the Leage of Nations. 67 



difficulties of the Austrian problem, to be solved only with the 
collaboration of all other nations. 

After the convocation of the first assembly of the League 
of Nations at Geneva, Austria availed herself the opportunity to 
claim her rights to admission. November 9, the request was 
introduced to the Secretary -General and December 15, the ad- 
mission of the Austrian Republic was carried unanimously 
This prompt and unquestioned admission is a tangible and precious 
proof of public trust in the sincerity of Austrian policy and was, 
therefore, heartily welcomed by the Austrian people. As a member 
of the League, Austria has gained the very real advantage of being 
entitled to appeal against the intolerable financial and economic 
position enforced by the Treaty of Peace. Article 1 1 of this 
instrument enables Austria to attract the attention of the Leage 
to such circonstances as to influence upon international relations 
and to endanger the peace or the understanding between the 
nations. Article 19 empowers the Assembly to call its members 
to a revision of conventions or treaties liable to compromise the 
universal peace or having become obsolete or inapplicable. Lastly, 
article 88 authorizes the Council of the League to abolish the 
political insulation of Austria. Therefore, very material interests 
of Austria were at stake. 

RELATIONS WITH CZECHO- SLOVAKIA. 

Before leaving for Paris, the Chancellor of State had decided 
to send delegates to Prague in order to settle the political and 
economic questions between Austria and Czecho-Slovakia. During 
his stay in Paris, Dr. Renner availed himself of the opportunity 
of entertaining Dr. Benesch, the Czecho-Slovak Minister of foreign 
affairs, about the preliminary conditions of this conference. In this 
interview, the coal and sugar questions were the prominent topics. 

January 9, 1920, the Chancellor of State, accompanied by 
the chiefs of the Finance, Commerce and Public- Health Offices, 
went to Prague. The political aim of this voyage was the settle- 
ment of friendly relations between the two countries; those 
conditions of the Peace Treaty the execution of which were 
only dependent on the mutual understanding of Austria and 
Czecho-Slovakia, should be carried to effect without delay, even 



68 Dr. Renner's Voyage to Prague. 

before the ratification of the Treaty. The questions of delimitation, 
naturalization, and public servants were to be resolved at once. 
Dr. Renner was charged too to initiate a normal commercial treaty 
in order to restablish the interrupted traffic between the two 
countries. Finally, financial arrangements were to be made. The 
final effect of this voyage was an accord about certain questions 
of home and foreign policy, above all a mutual agreement about 
the common defence against any attempts of political or economic 
restauration. The two contracting parties agreed in renouncing 
all pretensions not backed by the Treaty of St. Germain. 

It was not an alliance or an entente, but only a spontaneous 
collaboration in all vital questions what was resolved. Any attempt 
in the direction of a federation or a customs -house union was 
rejected ; both parties agreed that the leading idea of both Austrian 
and Czecho- Slovak policy must be and remain the maintaining 
of friendly relations with all the States of Central-Europe. Seried 
negociations, held alternatively at Vienna and at Prague, were 
foreseen. Special commissions tor the study of the conditions of 
a future treaty of commerce were instituted. 

Czecho-Slovakia promised the delivery of 30.000 tons of sugar. 
But the coal question, the most momentuous of all, remained 
unsettled, but Czecho-Slovakia subscribed to the obligation of 
sending 100 more daily waggons of coal than stipulated by previous 
compacts, and promised to enhance these quantities in the future. 
In ordre to settle this question too, a permanent mixed Coal 
and Railway -Committee was nominated. Following the visit of 
Dr. Renner at Prage, negociations were continued in Vienna in 
view of the conclusion of a Compensation -treaty, with a final 
satisfactory result. 

Although the voyage at Prague had not the expected immediate 
effects in economic matters, the moral consequences were not 
contemptible. Dr. Renner had at least succeeded to shake the 
fundament of hostility existing between Prague and Vienna; the 
semi-official "Tschecho-slowakische Korrespondenz" had the same 
impression in writing down these lines: "The only result of having 
effaced the afflicting and wicked past and of having ascertained 
the fact that the Czecho-Slovak Government is animated by the 
heartfelt wish to maintain friendly relations with Austria in order 



Frontier delimitation. 69 



to serve jointly the common interests, is worth congratulating 
both parties upon the interview of Prague". 

In his speeches delivered in Prague, Dr. Renner did not 
dissimulate his apprehensions about the Treaty of Peace. He stated 
frankly that the Treaty did not justice to the legitimate wishes 
and hopes of Austria; but he continued by saying that, under 
the given circumstances, Austria was bound to take the Treaty 
as a basis for her future policy. He concluded by expressing his 
conviction that, upon that basis, Austria would and could come 
to friendly relationship with her neighbours. 

Without considering the fact that the Peace Treaty had severed 
from Austria vaste tracts of land, exclusively or mainly peopled 
by Germans, occupied by Czecho- Slovakia already before the 
ratification, the treaty had allotted to Czecho-Slovakia too several 
Austrian districts on the Austro-Czech boundary line near Felds- 
berg and Weitra in order to satisfy the alleged Czecho-Slovak 
railway -interests. In order to retain the town of Feldsberg, the 
Austrian Government proposed the construction of a junction line 
Eisgrub-Voitelsbrunn; but this proposal was not accepted. After 
the ratification, the Czecho-Slovak Government occupied-^ the 
thirteen boroughs in question in the district of Weitra with the 
great junction and railway -factories of Gmiind, and the five 
boroughs of Feldsberg, in all 225 square kilometres and 22.500 
inhabitants, almost all Germans. The international Boundary- 
Commission, charged with the final settlement of the Czecho- 
Austrian frontier line, commenced their work August 11 and 
terminated it, in the district of Gmtind, October P'. The Com- 
mission added also the borough of Boehmzeil, suburb of Gmund, 
with the terminus of the local provincial railways of Lower Austria, 
to the Czecho-Slovak territory, in order to assure to this State 
the unhempered exploitation of the railways ceded to Czecho- 
slovakia. Some tracts of fertile land restored to Austria could 
not constitute a real compensation for the painful losses she 
had sustained. 

The following negociations, held at Prague, concerned a 
convention about the State -Archives, judicial records, public 
fine-arts collections, naturalization and the protection of national 
minorities, according to the provisions of the Peace Treaty. The 
Archives- Convention, signed May 18 and entered in force 



70 Conventions of Briinn and Carlsbad. 

October 29, is based upon the provenience principle. Concerning 
the worlis of art in the public Museums and Galleries, the 
Czecho-Slovak Government is authorised to exerce the right of 
pre-emption for all objects falling in the historical or intellectual 
sphere of the Czecho-Slovak nation. The materials preserved in 
the old Military Geographical Institute in Vienna and sold to 
Czecho- Slovakia were to be paid in raw materials. 

The negociations about the naturalization resulted in the 
Convention of Briinn, signed July 7, but not yet ratified. 

This convention grants to all public servants the naturalization 
in the State where the service is performed; it settles the rules 
of the optional rights and grants a delay of three years for the 
removal to the Slate in favour of which the option was made. 
The two contracting parties bind themselves not to exile any 
subject of the other party but for superior interests of public 
order and security. The national minorities shall enjoy the right 
of using their language in their pHvate schools and in their 
internal administration. The private primary schools, when in 
accordance with the general legal rules, shall enjoy the prerogatives 
of public schools. Austria engages herself to establish public 
primary schools for her subjects of Czecho-Slovak tongue in 
Vienna; after the general inscriptions, the number of classes will 
be determined so as that the number of pupils will be the same 
in the Czecho-Slovak and the German primary Municipality schools. 
The Ministry of Public Instruction had instituted, already in 
spring 1920, a commission for the study of the Czecho-Slovak 
school question in Vienna. Although the Convention of Briinn is 
not yet ratified, this Commission had ordered the inscription of 
the Czecho-Slovak pupils in Vienna for autumn 1920. 

The Convention of Briinn will lose its effect after four years, 
lest it should be prolonged six months at least before the term. 

A supplementary convention was signed at Carlsbad Sep- 
tember 1920; the Czecho-Slovak Government agreed to maintain 
in the public service certain classes of schoolmasters and pro- 
fessors of German nationality, whereas the Austrian Government 
submitted to the condition of allowing the half of the 'educational 
staff of the Czecho-Slovak primary schools in Vienna to be subjects 
of Czecho -Slovakia. 



Annexation of German Tyrol. - 71 

In the first days of August, new negociations were made in 
Prague concerning the lease of deposits in the Banking establishe- 
ments and the mutual recognisance of the control -stamps on 
effects and values, preceding the lease. August 31, the convention 
concerning the legal state of industrial and transport enterprises 
entered in force. But the negociations about the treaty of import- 
and export- contributary quotas, terminated February 9, are not 
yet ratified. 

Presently, new transactions about a treaty of commerce are 
beginning. 

RELATIONS WITH ITALY. 

After the breaking-up of the old Austrian Empire, no point 
of litigation between Italy and the German people seemed to 
have survived. The boundary lines, delimitating the territories of 
German and Italian speaking peoples are everywhere unequivocal 
and traced by nature itself. But unfortunately, Italy did not account 
of this state of things and incorporated a great part of the 
German Tyrol. The Austrian Government attempted to negociate 
directly with Italy in order to make her renounce this policy, 
but failed utterly. Although the Parliament of Rome, during the 
debates about the ratification of the Peace Treaty, acknowledged 
openly the unrightousness of this treaty, the Assemby ratified 
without alterations the instrument. Notwithstanding the repeated 
promises of an entire autonomy and self-goverment, to be granted 
to German Tyrol, this annexation will always remain an open 
wound until eventually healed by a decision of the League of 
Nations. 

In all other matters, Italy had been the first country treating 
with Austria on a foot of entirety friendly neighbourhood. Italy 
had initiated the sending home of the prisoners of war, she was 
the first State according facilities in the execution of the Treaty 
of Peace, Italy had outpassed the other countries in concluding 
a treaty of commerce based on the principle of perfect reciprocity, 
she had first afforded hospitality to the starving Austrian children, 
the Italian troops were the first ones to evacuate Austrian territory 
and in all diplomatic matters, Austria enjoyed the support of the 
Italian Government. 



72 Austrian mission in Rome. 

In pursuance of an invitation of the Italian Government, the 
Chancellor of State, Dr. Renner, accompanied by the Secretaries 
of State in the economic offices went to Rome April 1920, thus 
before the ratification. He vkfas expected to treat, the particulars 
about the execution of the Treaty of Peace and many other 
economic questions. 

The Austrian Mission was very heartily welcomed in Rome 
both by the Government as by the Italian people, both endeavouring 
to mark the fact of the first visit of a ci-devant enemy in the 
Capital of a belligerant State before the conclusion of peace. 
The King was pleased to express his sympathies for the young 
Republic; the Pope spoke of his deep compassion with the 
sufferings of the Austrian people and handed to Dr. Renner a 
million of lire destined to charitable institutions. The President 
of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Nitti and Dr. Renner attested 
the perfect harmony of interests between Italy and Austria. The 
Italian Government declared to be ready to restablish without 
delay the economic relations with Austria and to help Austria in her 
efforts towards a prompt regeneration. In order to realise these 
wishes, the two Ministers of finance, supported by a number of 
experts, agreed, after exhaustive deliberations, upon the following 
conclusions: 

The Italian Government accords an advance of 20.000 tons 
of gTain upon the deliveries from America, not yet arrived in 
Italy, and promises similar advances in case of necessity. Italy 
is ready to participate in the international loans offered to Austria, 
with a share of hundred millions of lire. Italy will create a 
Clearing office to compensate the credits and debits between 
Austrian and Italian subjects; for the balance, terms espaced over 
several years will be granted. The Italian Government promises 
to grant the Austrians in Italy the same juridical, financial and 
commercial prerogatives reserved exclusively to the only Italian 
subjects by the stipulations of the Treaty of St. Germain. On 
the other hand, Austria engages herself to deliver to the Italian 
Government the detailed plans for the construction of the Railway- 
route of Predil (Julian Alps) in order to accelerate the execution 
of this line of junction between Italy and Austria. Italy promises 
to deliver to Austria, against defrayment of the supplementary 
transport-expenditure, the American and British coal necessary 



Convention about works of art. 73 

to the maintaining of Austro-ltalian railway-intercommunication. 
Thie Austrian goods in the Porto franco of Trieste or consigned 
thereto are free from any customs-or other similar duties as if 
they were Italian goods; for these goods, special warehouses 
shall be constructed or reserved; the conventions between Austria 
and the Italian Companies of navigation in Trieste shall be 
favoured by the Italian Government; in return, Austria promises 
to direct the moiety at least of her oversea-trade in the way of 
and from Trieste. 

Finally, Italy engaged herself to support Austria in the defence 
of her territory, as settled by the Treaty of Peace and in her 
requests tending to her admission in the League of Nations. Both 
countries agreed to restablish without delay the diplomatic 
relations in order to cooperate in the maintaining of the peace. 
Mr. Nitti reiterated spontanously his formal promise of an entire 
autonomy for German Tyrol. April 1920, the Italian Government 
granted the exequatur for an Austrian Consulate-General at Trieste. 

The Treaty of Peace authorized Jtaly to request from Austria 
certain works of art of Italian origin, preserved in the Austrian 
Public Galleries aud Museums, the property title of which is 
missing. In controversial cases, a neutral arbitration court will 
settle finally. June 1920, a new convention was signed in view 
of a definitive settlement of all controversial cases in the delivery 
of works interesting the fine arts, the history of art, the bibliography 
and archives. In performance of this convention, a considerable 
number of treasuries, carried away by the Italian Armistice 
Commission will be restored to Austria. The cimelias of the 
Vienna National Library,* taken away as a pledge, shall soon be 
returned to Vienna. 

THE RELATIONS WITH GERMANY. 

After the break-down of the Austrian Empire, every expert 
in the public life of Austria predicted that Austria was cast for 
death under the present conditions. Theoretically, two remedies 
existed to save the life of this mole: either the restablishment of 
the economic boundaries of old Austria-Hungary, in the shape of a 
Confederation of the Danube, or the union with Germany. The 
first remedy proved utterly impracticable. The scheme of uniting 



74 The Union with Germany. 

seven sovereign States in an economic unity was chimerical; of 
course, none of tfiem would sacrifice the smallest particle of its 
newly gained sovereignty. Therefore, the idea of a Danube Con- 
federation was frustrated by the invincible opposition of those 
invited to form this league. But the scheme of a union with 
Germany, born out of the spontanous national feelings of the 
people and nourished by the growing difficulties in the daily life, 
developed steadily, carrying along even those who were, at the 
outset, the most stubborn antagonist of this scheme. Germany too, 
hesitating first at the idea of the new burden of nourishing her 
Austrian children in spite of her own distress, was finally more 
and more convinced of the inevitable ultimate issue. 

But this common wish of both countries is not to be realised 
as long as the Treaty of St. Germain is in full force. This Treaty 
proclaims first the full sovereignty and independence of Austria 
and binds her union with Germany to the approval of the League 
of Nations. Matters standing thus, Austria had only one way : 
struggling for her economic prosperity with the help of the Entente 
and to leave to the future the realisation of her hopes. 

Therefore, the Austrian Government abstained henceforward 
anxiously from any action contrary to the provisions of the Treaty 
about the independence of Austria. But no sensible politician will 
believe that the relations between Austria and Germany will be 
confined to some judicial conventions or to the Treaty of Com- 
merce, signed September P' at Munich. The force of gravitation, 
engendered by the unity of tongue, feelings and civilisation, will 
prove in the last run stronger than any diplomatic paper. This 
power is visible everywhere in the daily life; the Kapp's upheaval 
in Berlin March 1920, had a deep repercyssion in Austria; the 
commercial balance shows the crushing superiority of German 
imports to and exports from Austria; but public opinion is and 
will be in the future the first asset in this bill. 

The provincial Assemblies used to invite from time to time 
the Central Government to urge the abolition of the clause pro- 
hibiting the union with Germany. In some countries bordering 
Germany, a lively propaganda is at work to force the union, 
without or against the Central Government, in Vorarlberg the 
tendency is rather to make a union with Switzerland. 



Claims for union in the Provinces. 75 

During the autumn of 1919, these popular movements were 
so strong as to decide the Supreme Council to a dispatch to the 
Chancellor of State, staying in Paris at this moment, stating that 
the Allied and Associated Powers would be obliged to oppose 
material resistance to any attempt of endangering the integrity or 
the political or economic independence of Austria. But the 
exhortations of the Government vanished in the turmoil of the 
cries of distress. Not only the urban population, suffering more 
immediately by the general misery, but even the peasantry claimed 
the immediate union. The meeting of the little landowners, held 
at Linz in April 1920, voted unanimously the union. September 7, 
the Pangermanists Congress at Salzburg invited the National 
Assembly to vote a law prescribing a general plebiscite about the 
union with Germany, along with the general elections. In the last 
meeting of the National Assembly, October 1^', 1920, a similar 
motion of the Pangermanist Party was rejected, but a motion to 
the effect of prescribing the general plebiscite within the following 
six months, was carried unanimously. 

RELATIONS WITH YOUGOSLAVIA. 

After the ratification of the Treaty of St. Germain, Yougoslavia 
was obliged to evacuate the territories, occupied by her army but 
eventually allotted to Austria. Thus, the districts of Radkersburg, 
Spielfeld, Soboth and others, situated in Styria, were restored to 
Austrian administration. In the question of the basin of Abstall, 
severed from Austria by the Treaty of Peace, it is hoped that 
an amiable arrangement with Yougoslavia will be obtainable. If 
not, Austria shall address a petition to the League of Nations 
tending to the grant of a plebiscite in this districts as well as 
in some others situated in the basin of Marburg (Styria) and 
Mies (Carinthia), the inhabitants of which are mostly Germans. 

The Treaty of St. Germain had already provided a plebiscite 
in the basin of Klagenfurt. The plebiscite territory was divided 
in two zones: the northern zone (B) with the chief place of 
Klagenfurt, was not called to the plebiscite but in the case as 
the southern zone (A) should decide in favour of Yougoslavia.*) 

*) The zone A contains 1727 square Icil. with 72.138 inhabitants (whereof 
22.579 Germans), the zone B 372 square kil. with 58.610 inhabitants (whereof 
50.652 Germans). The figures from the census returns of 1910. 



76 



Plebiscite in Carinthia. 



The entire territory was placed under the" control of an 
International Commission charged with the task of preparing the 
plebiscite and granting an impartial administration. July 15, 1920, 
the Plebiscite Commission arrived at Klagenfurt; the members 
discharged their ungrateful and difficult duties with untiring 
abnegation and accelerated the work so that the plebiscite, fixed 
by the Treaty in the zone A within three months after the 
ratification, could be carried through October 10. 

In conformity with the provisions of the Treaty, the Commission 
withdrew the Yougoslavic troops from the zone A September 10. 
The effective withdrawal was finished only a week later. The 
numerous abuses committed by the Yougoslavic administration 
in the zone A and the cruelties of the Yougoslavic emissaries in 
this country determined the Austrian Government to present 
repeatedly complaints against this state of things to the Conference 
of Ambassadors and to request tlie sending of interallied or neutral 
troops to warrant an impartial working of the plebiscite apparatus. 
The Ambassadors did not agree to this proposal, but they sent, 
October 6, 150 officers charged with immediate control of the 
plebiscite operations. 

THE RETURNS OF THE PLEBISCITE: 



Districts: 



V fe^s for 



Austria 



Yougoslavia 



Rosegg 
Ferlach 
Bleiburg 
Volkermarkt 



1980 
6428 
5140 
8304 



2331 
4984 
5339 
2442 



total 



21.852 



15.096 



Therefore, 59.i4»/o had voted for Austria. A notable fraction 
of the Slavic part of the inhabitants have voted for the young 
Republic, a striking proof of the unrighteousness of severing vast 
tracts of lands from Austria without taking in account neither the 
national feelings nor ecomic interests. 



Austro-Yougoslavie treaty of commerce. 77 

The delight the results of this plebiscite had caused- in 
Austria was somewhat marred by the fact that the next day, two 
bataillons of Yougoslavic troops penetrated the territory. The 
Austrian Government protested energetically both at Paris as- at 
Belgrade, against these arbitrary proceedings. It was not but 
October 25, that the Yougoslavic troops evacuated the country, 
thanks to the prompt intercession of the Conference of Ambassadors. 

The economic relations between Austria and Yougoslavia 
were confined, during the year of 1919, like those with other 
neighbouring states, to an exchange between imported raw 
materials and exported manufactured goods, based on the principle 
of compensation. January 19, 1920, a supplementary convention 
was enacted, settling on a new basis the exchange rates of the 
two currencies, determined previously by a convention dated 
September 1^', 1919. Further more, Yougoslavia warrants to Austria 
the delivery of certain determined quantities of raw materials in 
exchange of manufactured commodities. At the day of the revocation 
of this treaty, the total amount of goods exported and imported 
by both States, was 310 millions of kronen. 

Negociations about a provisional treaty of commerce, having 
begun June P' at Belgrade, were terminated June 27. This was 
the first normal treaty of commerce between Austria and a foreign 
state. Besides, a convention aboutthedelivery of certains contingents 
under immediate balance-accounts and a convention about the 
letting of railway engines from Austria, were concluded. An 
agreement about the supply of grain from Yougoslavia was 
forthwith enacted. 

Similarly as with Czecho-Slovakia, Austria made an agreement 
with Yougoslavia about the question of Archives. 

RELATIONS TO HUNGARY. 

Hungary was the last State entering in friendly relations with 
Austria. By the readiness to accomplish without mental restrictions 
the oppressive duties imposed by the treaty of peace, Austria 
had won the sympathies of the world at large and the confidence 
of her neighbours. Austria had to cede to almost all neighbouring 
states vast tracts of land undoubtedly or exclusively inhabitated 
by people of German race; Austria underwent these cessions 



78 The question of Burgenland. 

with bleeding heart but without delay; she renounced to the 
easy tentation to create or to foster in these tracts of country an 
irredentistic movement. But of course, Austria will not, if even 
she could, resign the only gain the treaty of peace has bestowed 
on her, viz. that part of German Western Hungary, commonly 
called Burgenland. This country, having belonged sometimes 
to Hungary, sometimes to Austria, had been ever since one of 
the principal feeders of Vienna in agricultural products and there- 
fore of much lesser economic interest for agricultural Hungary 
than for Austria. Hungary declares jpi to submit to the cession 
of this country. Certainly, Hungary is authorised to continue the 
occupation of this tract of land till the ratification of the treaty 
of Trianon, but it is easily understood that the attitude of Hungary 
is apt to cause unrest and diffidence in Austria. Unofficial Hungary 
declares repeatedly the impossibility of a cession of German 
Western Hungary to Austria; a lively anti-Austrian agitation is 
maintained in the country and the pro-Austrian partisans are 
persecuted and imprisoned. The only official declaration of Hungary 
was a diplomatic note of February 14, 1920, proposing to the 
Austrian Government a plebiscite under the control of the Hungarian 
authorities. Of course such a plebiscite, besides being expressly 
forbidden by the Supreme Council at Paris, would be a mere farce 
and was therefore declined by Austria. The numerous complaints 
for terrorist proceedings, recruitments, requisitions, preparations 
of wholesale plundering in the case of evacuation, brought before 
the Austrian authorities by deputies from German Western Hungary, 
all this determined eventually the Austrian Government to demand 
redress before the Conference of Peace. 

February 25, 1920, the Austrian Government received a note 
from the President of the Peace-Conference, saying that, in con- 
sideration of the disquieting news from the counties of Western 
Hungary, the Conference had resolved to send an inter-allied 
military commission to Oedenburg, chief place of these counties. 
The inter-allied Commission was to contain also two Austrian 
delegates. Although the Allied Powers had, by the nomination of 
this military commission at Oedenburg, implicitely reiterated 
their decisions concerning German Western Hungary, the Hungarian 
Government continued to consider this land as purely Hungarian; 
in' march 1920, when the Austrian bank-notes were labelled, a 



Austro-hungaiian Convention of August 2, 1919. 79 

fee of 10% was levied from the proprietors and a forced loan 
of 40''/o of the labelled bank-notes was taken. 

In a hardly less sensible manner than the Western-Hungary 
question, the internal political struggles in Hungary led to disso- 
nances between the two States. During the period of the Com- 
munist rule at Budapest, all the anti- communist Hungarian 
politicians sought and found asylum at Vienna. On the other hand, 
the Bolchevists at Budapest entertained at Vienna a lively propa- 
ganda, hoping to gain an effective influence in the Austrian 
political and governmental spheres. The same spectacle, but with 
interchanged parts, was performed after the overthrow of the 
Bolchevist regime in Hungary. Most of the Bolchevists had fled 
to Vienna. Therefore, after consulting with the representatives of 
the Entente at Vienna, the Austrian Government concluded with 
the legal Hungarian Government the following agreement: 

CONVENTION BETWEEN THE GERMAN-AUSTRIAN AND 
THE HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENTS CONCERNING THE 
RESIDENCE OF THE COMMUNISTIC DELEGATES OF THE 
HUNGARIAN PEOPLE IN THE TERRITORY OF AUSTRIA. 

In view to support the new Hungarian Government in their efforts 
to maintain the order and tranquillity, the German-Austrian Government 
declares being willing to accord an asylum in the Austrian territories 
to the communistic delegates of the Hungarian people and their sub- 
ordinates, viz: B6Ia Kun, Eugen Landler, Ernest Por, Bela Vargo, 
Joseph Poganyi, Francis Rakos, Emil Madarasz, John Hirosak, Eugen 
_ Varga and Julius Lengyel. 

This asylum is to be warranted under the supposition that they 
will abstain absolutely from any political activity. The granting of this 
asylum is dependent on the condition that their sojourn in the Austrian 
Republic may not cause any trouble in the internal or external 
policy of Austria. If this should happen, the Austrian authorities reserves 
to themselves the right of using their own discretion. The abovenamed 
persons shall return to Hungary as soon as the internal situation of this 
country will permit their sojourn in Hungary. The Austrian Government 
feels obliged, as well in its proper interests as in view of warranting the 
personal safety of the above-named persons, to restrict their liberty of 
residence and to confine them in a locality choosen by the Austrian 

Authorities. 

Vienna, August 2, 1919. 

For the Austrian Foreign-office : 

1 ppen. 

In the name of the Hungarian Government : 

W. Boehm, minister. 



80 International boycott against Hungary, 

Altough Austria was bound, if not by tiii§ treaty, yet by the 
rules of international law, to give protection to those persons, 
the antirevolutionary -Hungarian Government, once constituted, 
requested the delivery of the communistic delegates iltider the 
charge of crimes against the common law. The High-Court at 
Vienna, called to decide the matter, declared the suspicions and 
proofs alleged by the Hungarian Government insufficient to justify 
an extradition. Therefore, the refusal of extradition by the Austrian 
Government was unavoidable. The charges of the Hungarian 
Government against Austria with the support given to the escape 
of the Hungarian communists from Austria to Russia were not 
less substantiated. The above-mentioned convention does not bind 
Austria to maintain infinitely the Hungarian communists in Austria; 
on the other hand, the Convention of Copenhague granting the 
return of the Austrian prisoners of war, retained in Russia, obliged 
Austria to send to Russia the Hungarian communists. By eluding 
this condition, Austria would have compromised seriously the 
rescue of those infortunate victims of the war. 

June 20, 1920, the International Workmen's Association declared 
the general boycott against Hungary; in Austria, the syndicated 
workmen, most of the Post-, Telegraph- and Telephone-employees 
and the railway-men declared themselves pro boycott. The Austrian 
Government, in conformity with all the other Governments, 
maintained a neutral attitude. An order from the Secretary 
of State for Communications, tending to facilitate the service 
of the antiboycott employees, was condemned to remain ineffec- 
tive in the face of the resolute disobedience of the majority 
of the railway-men. On the other hand, the Chancellor of State, 
Dr. Renner, offered his good services for the negociations between 
the Hungarian Minister at Vienna and the international Boycott- 
Committee. But the discussions failed and the boycott continued. 
The Hungarian Government answered this boycott by a counter- 
boycott, directed exclusively against Austria, involving enormous 
prejudices for the people of Vienna, depriving them of the regular 
supply of victuals and fruits from Hungary and interrupting the 
consignment of coals from the collieries of the Viennese Munici- 
pality, situated in Hungary. August 8, the boycott was 
broken up. 

It follows from the preceding remarks that the Austrian 



Hungarian coups de main in Austria. 81 

Government had not deserved the reproofs directed from Hungary 
in this matter too. 

But the grievances of Austria about the violations of the 
sovereignty of Austria and the interferences in the internal affairs 
of this country by the Hungarian authorities are well-deserved. 
Repeatedly, officiers of the Hungarian army had kidnapped at 
Vienna Hungarian subjects enjoying the official hospitality of 
Austria, in view of delivering them to the Hungarian authorities. 
The Hungarian Government tolerated and countenanced the formation 
of gangs, composed of Austrian Army-officials and gathered in the 
cantonments of Zala-Egerszeg near the Austrian frontier. The hardly 
disguised design of these gangs was to invade by force of arms, 
in the nick of time, the Austrian territory. The Hungarian frontier- 
guard furthered notoriously the crossing of the frontier by Austrian 
commissioned officers and soldiers enlisted for the service in the 
cantonments of Zala-Egerszeg. The complaints of the Austrian 
authorities about those plots remaining without effect, the Austrian 
Government was obliged to appeal to the Conference of Ambas- 
sadors at Paris. In the night of June 30, about three hundred 
Hungarians invaded the Austrian province of Styria, disarmed 
the custom-house officials and police-soldiers and plundered the 
ammunition-d^pot at Fiirstenfeld near the Austro-hungarian frontier. 
This time too, the complaints of the Austrian Government were 
passed in silence by Hungary. In the night of August 20, another 
coup de main was tempted at Prellenkirchen in Styria. An order of 
the Hungarian Commander-in-Chief, announcing military manoevres 
in Western Hungary was palpably calculated to exasperate the public 
opinion in Austria; of course, these manoevres never came to pass. 

Notwithstanding all those frictions and misunderstandings 
the two Governments agreed about the necessity of an economic 
reconciliation. Already in 1919, negociations about the restoration 
of the commercial intercourse were inaugurated. In January 1920, 
these negociations were terminated with the renewal of the 
commercial relations, interrupted almost totally since the great 
collapse. After the extinction of this accord, fresh negociations 
were made, resulting in a treaty of export- and import-compen- 
sations, valid till the end of 1920. In the autumn of 1920, the 
negociations were resumed, in view of substituting an ordinary- 
treaty of commerce in lieu of the treaty of compensations. 



82 Conventions with Hungary. 

December 18, a provisional commercial convention was signed, 
in the main outlines similar to the Austro-Rumanian and Austro- 
German economic treaties. Furthermore, conventions were made 
about the Austro-Hungaro- Rumanian railway-traffic and the 
passport-regulations, as well as about the protection of trade- 
marks and copyrights. A convention was made concerning the 
frontier-traffic, another abolishing troubles at the custom-houses 
and at the examination of passengers' luggage, another about 
defraudations of the customs, about the reduction of custom-houses, 
a convention concerning epidemic diseases of animals and finally 
an accord about the mutual recognition of commercial certificates. 

The treaty of compensations, valid till December 31, was 
prolonged for another two months, with augmentation of the 
several contingents. 

Unfortunatly, the Hungarian Government postponed the 
ratification of the commercial convention after the decision of the 
Conference of Ambassadors about the cession of German Western 
Hungary, published December 1920. This decision provides for 
the transfer of this country to the principal Allied Powers, who 
shall remit it to Austria. The transmission shall take place under 
the control of the international Commission at Odenburg, occupied 
with the study of the particulars of this operation. Several officers 
of the allied armies are attached to this commission. 

GERMAN WESTERN HUNGARY: 

Urban and rural communities: 



German 


Magyar 


Croate 


others 


total 


306 


12 


71 
Population: 




389 


German 


Magyar 


Croate 


others 


total 


313.890 


98.405 


56.377 


22.417 


491.089 




Area: 


537895 square 


km. 





THEREOF ADJUDICATED TO AUSTRIA: 

Urban and rural communities: 

German Magyar Croate others total 

276 7 62 — 345 



Conventions with other Countries. 83 







Population: 






German 




Magyar Croate 


others 


total 


245.714 




44.191 49.374 


5803 


345.082 


Inpercents: 71 2 


A 


12-8 14-3 
rea: 436063 square km. 


1-7 


100 



OTHER ECONOMIC CONVENTIONS. 

February 1920, transactions about the conclusion of a treaty 
of compensation liad begun with Roumania. This transactions 
having failed, the Austrian Government dispatched, after the 
ratification of the Peace Treaty, delegates to Bucharest, in order 
to negociate the reprisal of commercial intercourse. August 14, 
a provisional commercial convention and a compensations treaty 
were concluded, both operative during a twelvemonth, and signed 
September 25. The provisional commercial convention re-enacts 
verbally most of the paragraphs of the ancient treaty of commerce 
between Austria-Hungary and Roumania. It restablishes the most- 
favoured nation clause, not only for customs -house matters, but 
also for individual prerogatives and the indifferent treatment of 
strangers and proper subjects in passenger and goods transport 
matters. The contingent treaty enumerates certain quantities of 
goods enjoying the privilege of free exportation. 

March 6, the commercial treaty of commerce between Austro- 
Hungary and Switzerland, concluded March 6, 1906, was renewed. 

January 1920, the Austrian Government signed a convention 
with Poland about the treatment of personal property and 
movables belonging to subjects of either of the two contracting 
parties and deposited in the territory of the other. The Polish 
Government promised to withdraw all enactments tending to the 
pi-ovisiona' seizurs of personal property belonging to Austrians. 
March 17, a contingent treaty was concluded. Transactions about 
a treaty of commerce resembling that made with Roumania, shall 
begin henceforward. 

November 16, a treaty of commerce on the basis of the 
most-favoured nation clause valable till August 1921 was concluded 
with Bulgaria. 



84 The Austrian Legations. 



In the same manner, a convention containing the most-favoured 
nation clause was made with the Principality of Liechtenstein. 

In the month of August, the State Secretary of finance went 
to Paris and London to solve the question of the repayment of 
the Austrian pre-war debts and the liquidation of the Austrian 
private property in France and England. The first named country 
accorded, for the repayment of debts in foreign values, terms 
extending to five, under exceptional circumstances to-ten years. 
The Austrian Government declared themselves bound by a joint 
liability with the Austrian private debtors. Great-Britain vouchsafed 
facilities in comparison with the stipulations of the Peace Treaty, 
without insisting on reciprocal terms. For the payment of the 
amount of balance incumbent to the Austrian Clearing -Office, 
terms extending to a great number of years were granted. 

Transactions with other countries about the pre-war debts 
are going on. 



THE AUSTRIAN LEGATIONS. 

(State of march 1, 1921.) 

BELGRADE: Charge d'affaires: Councillor Max H of finger. 

BERLIN: Charge d'affaires: Councillor Nikolaus Post (Attache 
for the press: Hugo Schulz). 

BERNE: Charge d'affaires: Johann S e i d 1 e r (Attachd for the press: 
Karl Wollanka). 

BUDAPEST: Minister plenipotentiary: Dr. Johann Cnobloch 
(Attach^ for the press: Hermann Blumenkranz). 

HAGUE: Minister plenipotentiary: Franz Calice. 

LONDON: Minister plenipotentiary: Georges Franckenstein 
(Attach^ for the press: Dr. Max Bach). 

MADRID: Charge d'affaires: Councillor Dr. Johann Gagern. 



The second Coalition. 85 



PARIS: Minister plenipotentiary: Dr. Johann Eiciihoff (Attach!^ 
for the press: Dr. Paul Zifferer). 

PRAGUE: Charge d'affaires: Councillor Dr. Ferdinand Marek 
(Attache for the press: Franz Rosner). 

ROME: Minister plenipotentiary: Dr. R^mi Kwiatkowski 
(Attache for the press: Dr. Iwo Jorda). 

ROME (Holy See): Minister plenipotentiary: Dr. Ludwig Pastor. 

WARSAW: Charge d'affaires ad interim: Dr. Alfons Knaffi-Lenz. 

HOME AFFAIRS. 

After the ratification of the Peace Treaty, transactions in view 
of an new coalition between the Socialist and Christian-Social 
parties were resumed. The new Government, like the former one, 
was composed principally by representatives of these two parties. 
A purely socialist or an exclusively bourgeois Cabinet was out 
of question, a coalition being the only means to accomplish the 
formidable task imposed upon the National Assembly. Only an 
intimate collaboration between the two parties, otherwise diametri- 
cally opposed to each other in the political aims and interests 
could overcome the growing difficulties and internal struggles. 
But this opportunistic coalition was not calculated to gain the 
public sympathies. The syndicated workers; seeing their ultimate 
goal, the socialisation of labour, postponed and declared un- 
attainable under the present political conditions, claimed loudly 
the withdrawal of the socialistic members from Government. 
The middle classes and the small landowners awakened; they 
prophesied an entire overthrow of the socialist parties at the 
next elections, owing to the general discontentment; the little 
bourgeoisie and the peasantry attributed the public miseries to 
the destructive activity of the Socialists; the Christian-Social Party, 
seeing the most important seats in the Cabinet occupied by 
Socialists, denounced loudly the disadvantages of the Coalition. 



86 The Pangermanists. Rupture of Coalition. 

The question of the new Militia was the match on the 
powder-barrel. In the meeting of the Christian-socialist Party, 
held in March at Linz, the provisions of the Militia-bill were 
declared unacceptable ; but soon afterwards, under the impression 
of the Kapp-upheaval in Berlin, a provisional understanding about 
this matter was obtained. In the home affairs, the question of 
priority, wether the capital-levy bill or the Constitutional law 
were to be considered the most urgent task, divided the two 
parties, the Socialists insisting on the first, the Christian party 
on the second alternative, in *^5opular meetings arranged by the 
Socialists, the clamour for partial confiscation of private property 
was general, but the Christian-Socialists insisted with ever gro- 
wing energy on the final settlement of the Federal Constitution, 
warranting the Provinces the much needed autonomy and self- 
government. 

After the first meeting of the National Assembly, the nationalist 
deputies gathered in a great Pangermanist Party. April 18, 1920, 
those deputies assembled at Linz in order to determine the 
principles to be observed in the coming debates about the Con- 
stitution and to lay down the statute rules of the newly consti- 
tuted Party. The Pangermanist platform sets forth the national, 
liberal,anti-Semitic,democratic and republican principles. Acommittee 
was constituted in order to draft the organic rules of the new 
party and August 8, the managing committee was elected. 

The wide discrepancies in the general politic views of the 
two leading governmental parties led to a closer cooperation 
between all the bourgeois parties in the Parliament. Juni 1=', the 
former socialist State Secretary Mr. Otto Bauer declared emphati- 
cally in the meeting of the General Workers Council, that the 
coalition was generally considered unavoidable. But the same 
day, the official paper "Wiener Zeitung" published the enactment 
concerning the constitution and election of the Soldiers Councils; 
this question proved to become the first cause of the rupture in 
the coalition. 

In the meeting of the National Assembly of June 10, the 
Pangermanists addressed a question to the military State Secretary 
about the constitution of Soldiers Councils. The interrogators, 
joined by the whole Christian-Social party, pretended that the 



Soldiers Councils. General elections. 87 

State-Secretary was not legally authorised to make such an 
enactment and that the said enactment was in itself utterly illegal 
and contrary to the standing Military Service Law. In the riotous 
debates following the interpellation, the leader of the Christian 
Social Party, Mr. Kunschak, declaring advisable the immediate 
rupture of the Coalition, was hailed with frenetic applause. Under 
the weight of this spontaneous demonstration, the Socialist 
Secretaries of State demissioned, followed by the Christian 
Socialist Secretaries. 

The Socialist Party declared that in this juncture, the Bourgeois 
parties were constitutionally bound to take in hand the Govern- 
ment; but the Christians and Pangermanists refused and proposed 
a Cabinet composed of state-functionaries. The Socialist reserved 
themselves ultimate decisions, so the crisis was not yet conjured. 
June 24, the Cristian-Social members of the Cabinet, having 
hitherto continued, like their socialist coUegues, the discharge of 
their duties, requested and obtained their dismissal from the 
President of the Republic, so that only the Socialists and a few 
fonctionaries remained in the Cabinet. This state of affairs not 
being likely to continue indefinitely, the National Assembly carried 
a socialist motion tending to close the session, to proceed forthwith 
to new elections, and to entrust the dispatch of the most urgent 
business (capital-levy law, constitutional law) to a Cabinet com- 
posed proportionally of all parties in Parliament. The "Proportion 
Cabinet" was constituted July 7; each party nominated delegates 
without assuming a joint responsability; therefore, the posts of 
State Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor were suppressed and the 
Secretary of State, Dr. Michel Mayr, was entrusted with the 
presidency of the Cabinet. The general elections were appointed 
to October 17. 

The new electoral law had augmented the number of deputies 
to 175; fifteen mandates are reserved for the remainder of votes 
put together from all electoral circonscriptions and distributed to 
the different parties proportionally. The frontiers of Carinthia not 
being settled until the returns of the plebiscite of October 10, 
the elections in this country were postponed till a later date. 
Provisionally, the former deputies were admitted to continue the 
exercise of their mandates. Until further provisions, the Burgen- 
land has no representatives in the National Assembly. 



88 



Returns of General Elections. 



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lU 
CQ 

O 
H 
U 

O 

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o 

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UJ 

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O 

(U 

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Q. 
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Victory of Christian -Socialists. 89 

The proportion between the suffrages obtained by the different 
political parties had materially changed since the election for the 
Constituante, February 16, 1919. The Christian-social Party, having 
collected in 1919: 1,068.382 votes or 35-930/0 of legal votes, had 
obtained in 1920: 43'53%, whereas the Socialdemocratic Party, 
numbering 1,211.814 votes in 1919, had fallen from 4076''/o 
to 35.52%- The progress of Pangermanists, not yet constituted 
as political party in 1919, is difficult to ascertain precisely. The 
Czecho-Slovaks and the Nationalistic Yews, having obtained each 
one mandate in 1919, did not succeed in obtaining in any circon- 
scription the required number of votes. The Czecho-Slovak votes 
had diminished by 26.130, the percentage from 2.74 to I.44, an effect 
of the emigration from Vienna to Czecho-Slovakia. The complete 
discomfiture of the Communistic Party, appearing for the first 
time as a constituted political party, is a striking proof of the 
sober and judicious sense, the Austrian industrial workers have 
exhibited even in their present unfortunate situation. At the elections 
for the Labour-Councils in 1919, the Communists had obtained 
8i "/o of the votes, but at the general legislative elections, only 
269 Vo of ail proletarian votes were given to communistic can- 
didates, although the "New Left Wing" of the Socialist Party had 
joined the Communists. The Legitimist Party, disguised under the 
label of "United Christian National Party", had suffered an even 
more sensible defeat; there seems in Austria little room for a 
monarchist propaganda in the next future. 

The returns of female and manhood -suffrages having been 
specified this time, the remarkable differences of political opinions 
between both sexes can be exactly ascertained. The total number 
of female votes exceeds the male ones in all circonscriptions; 
but the female suffrages in favour of the Socialist party were 
sensibly inferior to the votes of men. For the Communists, the 
excess of men is about 4000. In the contrary, the Christian-Social 
Party has obtained 167.647 female and 111.644 male votes, 61% 
of Christian-social partisans belong to the gentler sex. 

The remaining votes were as follows: 

Pangermanists 166.174 

Christian Socialists 93.036 

Social-Democrats 95.916 



90 



Elections for the Federal Council. 



Small land-owners 36.280, 

Bourgeois labour-Party 18.436 

Independent Christian Socialists in lower Austria . . . 11.481 

According to these returns, the Pangermanists obtained seven, 

the Socialists four, the Christian Socialists three and the Small 

land-owners Party one more mandate in the new Parliament. 



N 


umber of mandates: 










I. 

Si 

B 
s 
c 

re 

o - 
H 


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o 

c 
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x: 



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i 


Constituante 


170 


69 


72 


26 


1 


1 


1 


National Assembly 


175 


82 


66 


26 


1 


— 


1 


The President of 


the N 


ationa 


Asse 


mbly 


convo 


ked the new 



Parliament for November 10. At this date the federal Constitution 
of the Republic took effect; by this fact, the National Assembly 
was to become National Council and its President was designed 
to accomplish the duties of Supreme Executive Power until the 
election of the first President of the Federation by the Federal 
Assembly. 

The elections for the Federal Council, held in November, 
had the following results: 

Provinces Mandates Christian 

Socialists 
4 
5 
3 
3 
2 
2 
2 
1 



Vienna 


12 


Lower-Austria 


10 


Upper-Austria 


6 


Styria 


6 


Tyrol 


3 


Salzburg 


3 


Vorarlberg 


3 


Carinthia 


3 



Social- 


Pan- 


Democrats 


germanists 


8 


— 


4 


1 


2 


1 


2 
1 

1 
1 
1 


1 


— 


1 



46 



22 



20 



4 



The new Christian-Socialist Cabinet. 91 

The Federal Council resembles, in respect of the percentage 
of the political parties, quite closely the National Council. 

The presidency of the Federal Council is conferred, in the 
first run, to the first delegate of Vienna (for the moment the 
Mayor of Vienna Mr. Reumann). Afterwards, the provinces will 
alternate in the presidency, in alphabetical order, for terms of 
six months. 

The Federal Assembly (united Federal Council and National 
Assembly) is composed of: 

104 Christian -Socialists 
86 Social -Democrats 
30 Pangermanists. 

The Christian-Socialists being now the most numerous party, 
the Socialists Union declared October 22, that according to the 
fundamental law of Democracy, that party must necessarily assume 
the responsability of Government. The Socialists declined per- 
emptorily any collaboration and invited their members in the 
Government to tender their demission. The same day, the Socialist 
State-Secretaries retired, whereas the other members of the Cabinet 
continued their functions. The composition of the new Cabinet 
was beset with difficulties of every description. At first, an attempt 
was made in the direction of a Cabinet entirely composed of 
politically neutral functionaries, but in the very last moment, 
this scheme failed. November 1920, the new Cabinet was elected 
by the joint votes of Christian -Socialists and Pangermanists. 
The council of ministers is composed of four christian -social 
and six neutral members. Dr. Mayr, president of the preceding 
Cabinet, was nominated Chancellor of the Federation. During 
the debates about the programme of the new Government, the 
leader of the Pangermanist party professed a benevolent neutrality 
towards the Cabinet. The Socialists are to constitute the future 
opposition. 

December 8, the Federal Assembly convened for the election 
of the President of the Confederation. December 9, Dr. Michel 
Hainisch was elected President. Although elected by the votes 
of the bourgeois parties only, the new President enjoys personal 
sympathies of all political parties; thus, this election was unani- 
mously considered as auspicious for the next future of the new 
Republic. 



92 Decrease of population. 



POPULATION. 

The territory of Austria, as determined by the Treaty of 
St. Germain, has an area of 84.000 square icilometres and about 
6V2 millions of inhabitants, 90 "/o of them being of German 
origin. 

The last general census included only the territory not 
occupied by foreign powers; therefore, Carinthia and Western 
German Hungary are not comprised in the census returns. The 
territories within the range of the census operations have an area 
of 78.061 square kil.; in this area were returned: 

1910: 1920: Decrease since 1910: 
men . .3,110.142 2,904.478 205.664 
women . 3,184.497 3,162.952 2h545 



total . .6,294.639 6,067.430, 227.209 (= 361 «/„) 

The returns for Vienna are: 

1910: 1920: Decrease since 

men . . 851.793 1910: 
women . 990.212 

2,031.498 total . 1,842.005 189.393 (= 9-33Vo) 

Out of all provinces, only Upper Austria and Tyrol show a 
felble increase, compared with the returns of 1910; hower Austria 
and Vorarlberg having suffered material losses, Carinthia, Styria 
and Salzburg indifferent decreases. But compared with the returns 
of 1914, all provinces have decreased, mostly Vienna (9.33V0). 
Lower Austria (without Vienna) having decreased less than 
Vorarlberg and Carinthia, much less so Salzburg, Tyrol and Styria. 
The least decrease, compared with 1914, had suffered Upper- 
Austria. 



Inhabitants of the Austrian Provinces: 

Vienna 1,842.005 

Lower Austria (without Vienna) 1,470.505 

Upper Austria . . 857.234 

Salzburg . . . . ^ 213.877 



Professional statistics. 93 



Styria 947.221 

Carinthia (without Plebiscite territory) 297.018 

Tyrol 306.126 

Vorarlberg 133.033 

The Plebiscite territory of Carinthia numbered 1910: 130.700, 
the Burgenland about 345.000 inhabitants. 

Out of 100 inhabitants, 5O.92 had a determined vocation, 
17.34 were housewifes, 31. 74 (mostly children) without vocation. 

Out of 100 inhabitants occupied in a determined vocation, 
31.90 were occupied in agriculture or forest-culture, 33.26 in industry 
12.17 in commerce, and transport, 8.81 in public service, 2.6o in 
liberal arts and 11. 25 in household. Of the total sum, 584.512 or 
18.95% exerced their vocation on their own account, 2,500.090 or 
81.05% as employed or salaried persons. 

Out of the 984.034 persons occupied in agriculture and forest- 
culture, 284.775 (whereof 41.423 women) are independent and 
699.259 (whereof 305.048 women) are employed or salaried. Out 
of the 1,026.004 persons occupied in industry an manufacture, 
185.961 (whereof 32.376 women) were returned independent and 
840.043 (whereof 215.478 women) dependent. Of the 375.248 
persons occupied in commerce and transport, 86.445 (whereof 
20.309 women) are independent and 288.803 (whereof 85.521 
women) are employed or salaried. Out of 80.294 persons in the 
liberal arts, 27.331 (whereof 7634 women) exercised their vocation 
on own account, and 52.963 (whereof 21.781 women) as employed 
or salaried persons. 

The 271.803 persons in public services (4.49% of the whole 
population) comprehend 212.118 men and 59.685 women; of the 
347.219 person occupied in household work, 21.247 are men and 
325.972 women. 

Vienna contains 46.5% of all Austrians occupied in industry 
and manufacture, 68 "/o occupied in commerce and transport, 
43% of the public servants and 50% of the persons exercising 
liberal arts. 



^:2£2£:^ 



94 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

P«ges 

After the Treaty of St. Germain 3 

The financial situation 5 

Rates of exchange 5 

Deficit 6 

Contributions for food-supply 7 

Public debt 7 

Plethora of public servants 8 

Commerce and Industry. Communications 8 

Foreign trade 8 

Want of coal 14 

Hydraulic powers 16 

Industry 17 

Railways 17 

The Unemployment 18 

Numbers of unemployed workers 19 

Insurance against unemployment 19 

Subsistence - 19 

Distribution of soil 20 

Harvests on tilled land 20 

Amount of harvest 20 

Prices and wages 22 

Death- and birth-rates 23 

Alimentary and hygienic situation of the youth 24 

Medical assistance for the youth 26 

Foreign help for children 28 

The scarcity of dwelling houses 31 

Undesirable aliens 33 

Legislation and Administration 34 

Revival of national industry 34 

„Treuga" 34 

Enterprises of general utility 35 

Capital -levy 36 

Income-tax 37 

Eight hours- labour day 37 

Arbitration -courts and collective labour contracts 38 

Workers and Employees Chambers 38 

Domestic servants' act 38 



I 



95 

Pages 

Public gambling's act 39 

Abolition of Courts -martial 39 

Conditional punishment's act 39 

Courts of Juror's act 39 

Literary and artistic property's act 39 

Model schools 39 

Educational reforms 39 

Post-scolar instruction 40 

Public health 40 

The Army 42 

The Federal Constitution 44 

The Prisoners of war 49 

Convention of Copenhague 51 

Foreign Politics 53 

Promises of help 53 

The Sub-Committee of the Reparations' Commission 54 

The Chancellor of State's Voyage to Paris 55 

The Finance and Approvisions' Secretaries in Paris 57 

The Austrian Section of the Reparations' Commission 58 

The Note of May 21 59 

The Interallied Control-Committees 64 

The Admission to the League of Nations 66 

The Relations with Czecho-Slovakia 67 

The Relations with Italy 71 

The Relations with Germany 73 

The Relations with Yougoslavia 75 

The Plebiscite in Carinthia 76 

The Relations with Hungary 77 

German Western Hungary (Burgenland) 78 

Convention about the Communistic Delegates of People .... 79 

Other economic Conventions 83 

The Austrian Legations 84 

Home Affairs 85 

Rupture of the Coalition 86 

"Proportion-Cabinet" 87 

General Elections of October 17, 1920 88 

Mandates in National and Federal Council 90 

The new Cabinet 91 

Election of the President of the Confederation 91 

Population 92 

General Census of January 31, 1920 92 

Professional statistics 93 




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